He's Everywhere, He's Everywhere!!!
Posted on 07/02/2020 9:57:22 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
[Summary] Chickens outnumber all other species of birds by an order of magnitude and they are humanity's single largest source of animal protein. Yet for 2 centuries, biologists have struggled to explain how the chicken became the chicken. Now, the first extensive study of the bird's full genome concludes that people in northern Southeast Asia or southern China domesticated a colorful pheasant sometime after about 7500 B.C.E. People then carried the bird across Asia and on to every continent except Antarctica. The research team also found that the modern chicken's chief ancestor is a subspecies of red jungle fowl named Gallus gallus spadiceus.
(Excerpt) Read more at science.sciencemag.org ...
There was a diner near a shore house I had as a yoot in NJ called “The Chicken or the Egg”
No, it has zero relevance to this.
But which came first the chicken or the egg?
See what you started?
How did the chicken achieve such cultural and culinary dominance? It is all the more surprising in light of the belief by many archaeologists that chickens were first domesticated not for eating but for cockfighting. Until the advent of large-scale industrial production in the 20th century, the economic and nutritional contribution of chickens was modest. In Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond listed chickens among the "small domestic mammals and domestic birds and insects" that have been useful to humanity but unlike the horse or the ox did little -- outside of legends -- to change the course of history. Nonetheless, the chicken has inspired contributions to culture, art, cuisine, science and religion over the millennia. Chickens were, and still are, a sacred animal in some cultures. The prodigious and ever-watchful hen was a worldwide symbol of nurturance and fertility. Eggs hung in Egyptian temples to ensure a bountiful river flood. The lusty rooster (a.k.a. cock) was a universal signifier of virility -- but also, in the ancient Persian faith of Zoroastrianism, a benign spirit that crowed at dawn to herald a turning point in the cosmic struggle between darkness and light. For the Romans, the chicken's killer app was fortunetelling, especially during wartime. Chickens accompanied Roman armies, and their behavior was carefully observed before battle; a good appetite meant victory was likely. According to the writings of Cicero, when one contingent of birds refused to eat before a sea battle in 249 B.C., an angry consul threw them overboard. History records that he was defeated.How the Chicken Conquered the World | Andrew Lawler, Jerry Adler
The prehistoric people inhabiting the Early Neolithic settlement near today's town of Yabalkovo, Dimitrovgrad Municipality, in Southern Bulgaria, had domesticated hens some 8,000 years ago, meaning that chickens were raised in Europe much earlier than previously thought, reveals Bulgarian archaeologist Assoc. Prof. Krasimir Leshtakov.
Leshtakov, who is a professor of archaeology and prehistory in Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", excavated the Neolithic proto-city, which dates back to the 7th millennium BC, between 2000 and 2012. The settlement near Yabalkovo was first discovered by Bulgarian paleo-ornithologist Prof. Zlatozar Boev from the National Museum of Natural History in Sofia who found bones from domesticated birds there, and was then excavated by archaeologists.Prehistoric People in Bulgaria's Yabalkovo Had Domesticated Chickens, 'Ate Europe's First Omelette' 8,000 Years Ago, Archaeologist Reveals | Ivan Dikov
My Chickenman Fu Is Strong......
The discarded bone of a chicken leg, still etched with teeth marks from a dinner thousands of years ago, provides some of the oldest known physical evidence for the introduction of domesticated chickens to the continent of Africa, research from Washington University in St. Louis has confirmed.
Based on radiocarbon dating of about 30 chicken bones unearthed at the site of an ancient farming village in present-day Ethiopia, the findings shed new light on how domesticated chickens crossed ancient roads -- and seas -- to reach farms and plates in Africa and, eventually, every other corner of the globe...
The main wild ancestor of today's chickens, the red junglefowl Gallus gallus is endemic to sub-Himalayan northern India, southern China and Southeast Asia, where chickens were first domesticated 6,000-8,000 years ago. Now nearly ubiquitous around the world, the offspring of these first-domesticated chickens are providing modern researchers with valuable clues to ancient agricultural and trade contacts.
The arrival of chickens in Africa and the routes by which they both entered and dispersed across the continent are not well known. Previous research based on representations of chickens on ceramics and paintings, plus bones from other archaeological sites, suggested that chickens were first introduced to Africa through North Africa, Egypt and the Nile Valley about 2,500 years ago.
The earliest bone-based evidence of chickens in Africa dates to the late first millennium B.C., from the Saite levels at Buto, Egypt -- approximately 685-525 B.C.How the chicken crossed the Red Sea | Nov 2 2016
The caped capon!.
Hey, if you're looking for 100 percent relevance, you've got the wrong guy.
The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed.
Breakfast Blues - Trout Fishing in America
Was the chicken in the Americas before Columbus?
I would listen religiously.
They raised ducks.
There was the Egg Platter Diner in W Patterson. I understand it was dismantled then relocated somewhere in Michigan.
I do not recall seeing that at Science before.
Too bad - great magazine, but not affordable for this old boy.
Thanks for posting, Civ.
I will read the chicken article at my local library.
A very, very important food source.
After all you can’t eat beef every day...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
