Hoorah for the chicken! Before they were used for food, chickens were held in high regard for many millennia

At first, people thought the birds were strange and weird animals.

It's possible that the first time humans interacted with chickens, it wasn't in the form of a plate of wings or a pair of delectable drumsticks. According to the findings of some researchers, humans used to hold respectful and even religious regard for these birds, even though they are now commonplace.

The first chickens to be domesticated were smaller, slower-growing birds than the chickens we know. According to a new study, they would have been about one-third the size of modern chickens. Their striking coloration and distinctive noises likely led people to view them as mysterious and exciting novelties rather than potential meals. This conclusion is drawn from the fact that they would have been about one-third the size of modern chickens. Approximately 500 years passed between when chickens were initially brought to Europe and when they were first extensively utilized as a source of food in Europe.

In other words, if you lived in central Europe in 500 B.C. and ate a chicken, it might have been comparable to how we feel about eating a scarlet macaw today.

Greger Larson, the co-author of the study and director of the paleogenomics and bio-archaeology research network at the University of Oxford in England, described chickens as "this amazing thing" at the outset of the investigation. Larson told Live Science that thousands of years ago, "that would have been a chicken," in contrast to the current culture in which people compete with one another to have "whatever the Kardashians have." "That's exactly what everyone was hoping for."

The enigmatic history of where chickens came from

On our planet right now, there are around 80 million chickens (Gallus domesticus). In the United States, a chicken that is kept for its flesh may only survive for about six weeks before it is slaughtered, while a laying hen may have a lifespan of between two and three years.

However, before there were domesticated chickens, humans became familiar with their wild relatives, the red junglefowl (Gallus gallus) from Southeast Asia. These birds carved out a place for themselves in the region by eating fruit and seeds, particularly in dense bamboo forests. The beginnings of how these tropical birds came to be one of the most widely consumed meals in the world are shrouded in mystery. This is due to the difficulty of doing archaeology in Southeast Asia's densely forested regions and the fact that archaeologists have not always paid close attention to minute objects such as chicken bones. According to Joris Peters, a zooarchaeologist at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and one of the study's co-authors, chicken bones can quickly sink into the earth or are disturbed by the digging of mammals, human construction, and other types of disruptions.

Peters, Larson, and their colleagues reported their findings in two papers published on Monday (June 6). One of the papers was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and the other was published in Antiquity. This means that the soil layers in which chicken bones are found may not accurately represent the age of the bones.

A journey through the life of a chicken

For this study, researchers spent more than a decade re-measuring and analyzing previously discovered chicken bones. Additionally, they directly radiocarbon-dated 12 chicken bones from 16 different locations in Europe to trace the progression of the chicken's migration from Asia to Europe. The results of both types of research indicated that hens were first brought into human households more recently than earlier estimates had suggested. For instance, Peters reported to Live Science that a set of bones that were thought to be chickens and dated back to 10,000 years ago in China were those of pheasants.

According to Larson, the relationship between humans and hens likely dates back no more than 3,500 years. Around 1500 B.C., people in Southeast Asia started dry-cultivating rice and millet, which required clearing sections of forest and planting fields that produced grain all at once. This took place in a region that is now known as Myanmar. The red junglefowl would have been drawn to this, and the people would have likely thought these brightly colored birds to be quite appealing.

Larson said, "They're extremely easy to tolerate, and they're really good-looking," referring to the people in question.

The domestication process began when junglefowl depended on people for their food source. Domesticated junglefowl, or what we know today as chickens, probably moved via trade routes similar to the Silk Road, which became more well-traveled around 200 B.C., and made their way to central China, South Asia, and Mesopotamia by the year 1000 B.C.

Chickens were brought to the Horn of Africa as part of the expanding maritime trade between around 800 and 700 B.C. Chickens arrived in Italy about 700 B.C. and made it to central Europe between 400 B.C. and 500 B.C. Greek, Etruscan, and Phoenician sailors were likely responsible for spreading the birds around the Mediterranean. Larson said men were often buried with cockerels and women with hens, and these chickens were likely significant to the individuals with whom they were buried. Interestingly, numerous chicken bones unearthed in Europe between 50 BC and 100 AD were related to burials.

"These are older birds; they are unique birds," remarked Larson about the specimens he was examining. They are essential to the society in which they live.

From pillars to platters and beyond

According to Larson, the rise of the Roman Empire in Europe marked the beginning of the shift of chickens from rare and revered birds to food. During this time, eggs became famous as a snack to eat at stadiums. Around the first century A.D., we first get evidence of widespread chicken consumption in Roman-controlled Britain. It is unknown how the transformation took place, Larson continued. Still, likely, the presence of chickens in human society for such a long period caused people to reconsider their connection more pragmatically.

He stated that "familiarity creates contempt," and I agree with him.

According to Larson, future archaeology will assist in the refinement of the chronicle of chickens, particularly in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, where evidence has been absent in the past. These new studies could shed light on how chickens spread worldwide and altered human social structures.

According to Peters, "the bird's management and domestication helped to contribute to the expansion of human sustenance in a manner that was ecologically sound over time." Because domestic flocks could quickly be taken on sea voyages, either as provisions or, ultimately, to raise chickens in newly occupied areas, the domestication of the chicken proved to be very useful for cultural developments throughout the wider region. "In retrospect, the domestication of the chicken proved to be very beneficial for cultural developments throughout the larger region."

 

 

 

 

Article source :  https://www.livescience.com/chicken-domestication

Image source  :  https://pixabay.com/id/vectors/ayam-susu-telur-buah-buahan-ikan-559892/

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Before they became food, chickens were cherished for millennia.