The chicken became a livestock much later than expected. A team led by Joris Peters from the LMU Munich came to this conclusion after analyzing more than 600 chicken bones and other indications. As the working group reports in »PNAS«, the first distinct domestic chickens only appeared around 3650 to 3250 years ago at the Ban Non Wat site in central Thailand. The analysis contradicts assignments of older finds to domesticated chickens. In addition, according to the study, there is a connection with the early cultivation of rice and millet. The grain may have lured the chickens’ ancestors close to humans, thereby starting the domestication process, the group writes in the publication.
The working group’s result suggests that the domestic fowl is a latecomer compared to other domesticated species. The other most important livestock of Eurasia, such as cattle, pigs and goats, appeared in domesticated forms between 6000 and 10 000 years ago, and dogs have even been living with humans for around 15 000 years. In contrast, the results of Peters’ team indicate that domesticated chickens go back to a late coincidence of grain cultivation in Southeast Asia and the Bankiva chicken, which appears to be particularly suitable as livestock. The close connection between chicken and grain probably remained after that. The working group assumes that the chicken spread worldwide together with the cultivation of grain.