at the Centre for Anthropobiology and Genomics of Toulouse in France has co-authored a comprehensive analysis of the evidence. It concludes that domestic chickens make their first clear appearance in the archaeological record much later – between 1650 BC and 1250 BC at a site called Ban Non Wat in central Thailand.“It’s the earliest irrefutable evidence,” says Lebrasseur.
Lebrasseur’s team suspects chicken domestication might have been triggered by the appearance of cereal farming in South-East Asia. “This created a more open, less [tree-covered] environment, which is actually an environment where red junglefowl thrive,” she says. “And they could have fed on the waste from human societies.”
This suggests the birds were attracted to human settlements, and natural selection might have played a role in turning them into domestic chickens. Dog domestication is thought to have occurredWhy humans would have encouraged chicken domestication is less clear. Best and her colleagues found little evidence that chickens were butchered for their meat when they were first introduced to Europe, and Lebrasseur thinks this indicates domestication wasn’t driven by a desire for meat.
Human-chicken co-burials in Britain about 2000 years ago might be evidence that the birds were viewed as spiritual guides that could lead human souls into the afterlife, says Best. “There were some associations with deities.” In Europe, it was only a few centuries after their introduction that chickens found their way onto the dining table and their status fell. Ultimately, human societies came to consider it acceptable to raise chickens under intensive conditions. But Lebrasseur thinks the recent trend towards free-range chicken shows that some consumers do now care a little more for chicken welfare. “It’s an interesting shift,” she says.
Well, there you have it. Chickens have been around far less than egg-laying: fish, amphibians, insects and dinosaurs. Which came first? The chicken or the EGG!!
Maybe it was to keep roosters around, which served as primitive alarm clocks ;)
Because they're awesome, that's why.
Because they crossed the road - duh 😂!!
To make it easier to get some chicken
Because we wanted a regular supply of eggs?
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