Chicken is one of the most common poultry in the world, but also the most important poultry in most parts of China, occupies a very important position in food culture, such as yellow stewed chicken, saliva chicken presumably everyone usually eats less. But do you know when and where chickens were domesticated?
撰稿 | University of Exeter
Compile the | aspen
Edit | Kapok/spruce
Image source | pexels
The earliest domestication took place in 1500 BC
The ancestor of the chicken, the Red Plains Chicken, belongs to the | of China's national second-class protected animals Image source: Subramanya C K
Scientists previously believed that chickens were domesticated in China, Southeast Asia or India about 10,000 years ago, while chickens appeared much later in Europe, about 7,000 years ago.
However, a new study suggests that this view is wrong. The introduction of upland rice agriculture into Southeast Asia facilitated the domestication of chickens, where their wild ancestor, the Red Plains, lived. Patches of rice are like a magnet that attracts wild red chickens from trees, allowing people to have frequent contact with red chickens and produce some type of intimate relationship.
Eventually, the red chicken became the poultry it is today– the chicken. This process of domestication took place on the Peninsula of Southeast Asia around 1500 BC. Studies have shown that the chickens were then transported first throughout Asia and then to the entire Mediterranean region along the routes used by the early Greek, Etruscan, and Phoenician maritime merchants.
Not food, but totem?
During the European Iron Age, chickens were generally not seen as food, but as revered totems. Studies have shown that the earliest chickens found in Europe were buried separately, and many were buried with humans. Men are usually buried with roosters, while women are usually buried with hens. It was only later in the Roman Empire that chickens and eggs became widespread as food. For example, the English did not begin to eat chicken regularly until the 3rd century AD.
Teams of scientists reassessed the remains of chickens found at more than 600 sites in 89 countries. They examined bones, burial sites, and social and cultural history of the bones found. They found the oldest domestic chicken bones to date in central Thailand, dating from 1650 to 1250 BC.
Scientists used radiocarbon dating to measure the earliest chicken remains found in western Eurasia and northwestern Africa, and found that the oldest one died at about 23 years old, longer than previously thought.
In addition, the results also show that chickens appeared in Europe around 800 BC. Subsequently, after the chicken spread to the Mediterranean region, it took another 1,000 years to become popular in Scotland, Ireland, Scandinavia, Iceland and other places.
The two studies were conducted jointly by scientists from the University of Exeter, the University of Munich, Cardiff University, Oxford University, Bournemouth University, the University of Toulouse, as well as german, French and Argentine scientists, and the paper was published in the journal Ancient and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Shipped with grain all over the world
Professor Naomi Sykes of the University of Exeter said: "Eating chicken is so common that it is widely believed that chicken has always been food. But our research suggests that in the past the relationship between chickens and humans was much more complicated, and for centuries chickens have played a totem-like role, appearing at sacrifice sites and funerals. ”
Professor Greger Larson of the University of Oxford said: "This comprehensive study of the domestication process of chickens proves first and foremost how wrong our understanding of when and where chickens were domesticated is. Even more exciting, we learned that the arrival of upland rice farming acted as a catalyst for the domestication and spread of chickens. ”
Dr Julia Best, from Cardiff University, said: "This is the first large-scale use of radiocarbon dating to determine the importance of chickens in early societies. Based on the results, we can determine the age of chicken remains, so as to obtain important information such as what role chickens played in early society. ”
Professor Joris Peters, from the University of Munich, said: "Due to the overall adaptability of the chickens, they basically feed on cereals. Thus, when transporting grain by sea routes, chickens can be transported to Asia, Oceania, Africa and Europe. ”
These research results provide a new perspective for human beings to deeply understand the domestication process of poultry, which is conducive to understanding the history of agricultural development and further interpreting the ecological relationship between humans and the natural world.
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Resources
[1]https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220606181159.htm
[2]https://news.sciencenet.cn/htmlnews/2020/9/445567.sht