According to research, pigs appeared in Europe 40 million years ago; About 654.38+0.5 billion years ago, pigs were widely distributed in Europe, Asia and Africa. In front of pigs, human beings actually look very young. It can be said that pigs are one of the witnesses of the emergence and growth of human beings. In the long years, wild boar has been accompanied by human growth and evolution. They are not only natural enemies of human beings, but also one of the food sources on which human beings depend. Wild boar is a very important animal in human life in primitive society. Many examples can be found in the early human cultural sites and remains found all over the world to prove this point. With the continuous progress of human civilization and the continuous improvement of hunting level, wild boar was gradually domesticated by human beings and became one of the earliest domesticated animals. A batch of pig bones unearthed from Jarmu site in Kurdistan, Iraq, are considered to be the earliest domestic pig bones found at present, about 8500 years ago. The carbon 14 of pig bones unearthed from the Neolithic site in Xi 'an, China was determined. About 6000 years ago, these pigs were close to modern pigs and should be primitive domestic pigs. However, a large number of domestic pig fossils were found in the Neolithic site with Yangshao culture in Xiawanggang, Xichuan, Henan Province. They are obviously different from wild boar, and their time is earlier than the pig bones of Banpo site, which proves that the breeding history of pigs in China is far more than 6000 years.
In people's minds, pigs are probably the most honest domestic animals. It has a plump and honest appearance. It sleeps when it eats, and eats when it is hungry, showing honesty. These characteristics of pigs often make them synonymous with stupidity, laziness, greed and ugliness, and are given a derogatory color. But in ancient times, the cultural significance of pigs did not contain any derogatory meanings. Pigs are the earliest animals successfully domesticated by human beings, so the word "home" in our Chinese characters means "jackal" under "Yi", which means that a place can only be called home if it can raise pigs. The word "home" describes the customs and culture respected by all families in China's agricultural society. "Home" not only refers to raising pigs in the house, but also social activities at that time were centered on things related to pigs. For example, there is the word "thing" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, just like catching a pig or a wild boar with a long-handled net in your hand. People's quality is also measured by pigs, such as the word "dare", which means to catch pigs with bare hands to show courage, and vice versa. In ancient myths and legends, pigs are often integrated with water gods. With the help of the concept of "for water" in folk beliefs, myths have shaped the image of pigs as water gods. The ancients had rich imagination, and they also linked the idea that pigs enter the water bath to indicate rain with astronomical phenomena. The first episode of Splendid Flower Valley, Rain, quoted a cloud in Xuyilu: "In the middle of the night, black gas chased each other in Hanzhong, saying that black pigs crossed the river and it was raining." Here, the scene where dark clouds link in the Milky Way is described as a black pig crossing the river, which is considered as a precursor to rain. This theory is often effective, because it is combined with meteorological experience, so many people believe it.
Pigs are very important in ancient people's lives. There are many words about pigs in the Book of Songs, the oldest collection of poems. "Hurricane? "July" recorded the production and life scene at that time, in which it was mentioned that "two days are the same, martial arts are performed, and private words are made public. "Hunters come to get together in December, so it's better to continue hunting than fighting skill. If you catch a pig and cook it yourself, the big beast will be handed over to the public. It is said that since the Tang Dynasty, Gong Kao met his Jinshi, and if one of them became a leader in the future, he would ask calligraphers of the same clan to write the title of Wild Goose Pagoda in "Zhu Shu", that is, red pen. Because "pig" is homophonic with "Zhu" and "hoof" is homophonic with "topic", the pig has become the mascot of young students to be. Whenever someone takes the exam, relatives and friends give braised pig's trotters, wishing those who take the exam "calligraphy title". Later, this habit gradually expanded, and people gave each other hams in the New Year, because hams were baked with pig's trotters. Folks also think that the "fat pig arch" is auspicious, and the fat pig has become the messenger of blessing. Therefore, there is a saying: "Pigs are the treasure of the family, and dung is the gold in the field. "The picture of the' fat pig arch' in folk art has long expressed the constant expectation of ordinary families for the well-being of pigs. There is an old folk song in Yuan Jian Han Lei: A pig gets started, and a hundred blessings come true.
Before writing, the ancients in China used to express the theme of pigs through painting, sculpture and pottery sculpture. A large number of cultural relics with the theme of pigs have been unearthed all over the country, which enables us to clearly understand the history of ancient pigs and pig industry in China. Porcupine pottery bowls unearthed from Hemudu cultural site in Yuyao, southern Zhejiang. Some ancient scholars thought that pigs were not allowed to be painted. This ancient pottery bowl is a disproof. Pigs painted in clay pots may have practical significance. Perhaps this pottery jar was specially filled with feed for pigs, and it also contained some sense of worship for pigs at that time. From the Jade Pig Dragon in Hongshan Culture in the north, this is obvious. From two pieces of pottery about pigs made by Su Shenren and Hemudu people, it can be seen that the pig industry in the north and south areas of ancient China was very developed. Interestingly, in May 2004, during the excavation of the Songze cultural site in Shanghai, the earliest pig statue in Shanghai was unearthed at the same time as the skull of the earliest ancestor in Shanghai. This pottery pig is dressed in red, with a fat head and a fat brain, bulging eyes, a bow in the nose and mouth, a round belly and short legs. The characteristics of wild boar are almost gone, much like the pig-shaped piggy bank commonly used in modern times. This discovery proves that there were domestic pigs in Shanghai 6000 years ago, and this pottery pig can be regarded as one of the earliest "pig statues" in China. This archaeological discovery has advanced the history of finding domestic pigs in Shanghai by nearly 1000 years.