Originating from the jungles of Southeast Asia, the red junglefowl became one of the first domesticated chicken species after humans domesticated it about 10,000 years ago, prizing the bird for its meat and eggs. However, it was only after World War II that selective breeding techniques transformed it into the rotund, short-lived creature found in supermarkets worldwide today.
"The modern meat chicken is unrecognizable compared to its ancestors or wild counterparts," explained Carys Bennett, a geologist and lead author of a study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science in 2017, which proposed chicken bones as a "marker species" of the Anthropocene. "Body size, the shape of the skeleton, bone chemistry and genetics are all distinct."
A more compelling evidence supporting the chicken bone hypothesis is the universal presence of broiler chickens, a domesticated chicken breed found all over the world that is bred and raised specifically for its meat. Virtually anywhere humans reside, copious remains of these domesticated birds can be found. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that there are approximately 33 billion chickens globally at any given time.
The biomass of domesticated chickens exceeds that of all wild bird species combined. Each day, at least 25 million chickens are culled, destined for various culinary purposes across cultures worldwide.
"Chickens are a symbol of how our biosphere has changed and is now dominated by human consumption and resource use," emphasized Bennett, an officer at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in the United Kingdom. "The enormous number of distinctive chicken bones discarded worldwide will leave a clear signal in the future geological record."
Jan Zalasiewicz, an emeritus professor of paleobiology at the University of Leicester, said: "It usually takes millions of years for evolution to occur, but here it has taken just decades to produce a new form of animal." (Related: Chicken farmer uses oregano oil, cinnamon in place of antibiotics.)
Several studies prove that chickens played an essential role at the beginning of "Eras of Humans"
One study conducted by a team of international scientists strongly suggested that the invention of dry rice farming techniques in Southeast Asia began the process that led to the eventual domestication of chickens.
The wild ancestor of chickens, the red junglefowl, lived in Southeast Asia. The practice of dry rice farming possibly attracted the fowl down from its more wild habitats to live with humans.
"Eating chickens is so common that people think we have never not eaten them. Our evidence shows that our past relationship with chickens was far more complex and that for centuries chickens were celebrated and venerated," said Naomi Sykes from the University of Exeter, one of the lead researchers.
Archaeological evidence reveals that chickens were not used as a food source in the Iron Age in Europe. Early chickens were buried alone and unbutchered, often found alongside human remains. Males were frequently buried with cockerels, while hens accompanied females.
An extensive analysis of chicken remains from more than 600 sites across 89 countries was examined through skeletons, burial locations and historical records to establish a more accurate timeline of chicken domestication. The oldest bones of a definitively domesticated chicken between 1,650 and 1,250 BC were discovered in the Neolithic Ban Non-Wat in central Thailand.
Furthermore, Joris Peters from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in Germany noted the importance of sea routes in spreading chickens to various parts of the world.
With their very adaptable, cereal-based diet, chickens were able to live and thrive all over Asia, Oceania, Africa and Europe before eventually making their way to the Americas.
Learn more about the ancient world at Ancients.news.
Watch this episode of the "Health Ranger Report as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, provides important advice for people raising chickens for the first time.
This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.
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over 1 year ago
Evolution? There never has been nor will there ever be evidence proving "evolution" of one kind to a completely NEW different 'kind'. For instance a bacteria EVOLVING into a fish, or a fish EVOLVING into some land creature, and that land creature EVOLVING into an ape, which then supposedly evolves into you. So essentially form goo to the zoo to you. lol 😂
What completely absurd idea. Yet millions believe it with absolutely ZERO evidence. There are many examples of speciation and adaptation which is when a species changes due to a number of factors as demonstrated by the Gallipolis Island Finch whose beak was straight but then ADAPTED to the birds need to access shell fish so the beak over time became curved. Or look at dogs, everything form the Chihuahua to the Great Dane and everything in between. Yet still ALL DOGS.
Bacteria has adapted and become a new different bacteria; fish have adapted and become a new kind of fish etc etc. But NEVER has one kind EVOLVED into a new kind. The study in this article only can prove adaptation and speciation. The suggestion of the author to push that this proves "evolution" is a flat out lie. Even Darwin himself didn't believe the THEORY of evolution. But the Rothschild/Rockefeller Klan quickly incorporated this theory into the education system for the SOLE PURPOSE of distancing the children from God.
Why don't we take this back to greatest question of all time:
WHAT CAME FIRST, THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG???
answer: the chicken of course. The egg would need to be fertilized before it could become a chicken, and a rooster would be required for that. Remember, in the beginning, He CREATED them all both MALE & FEMALE.
over 1 year ago
Interesting. When you talk about "short-lived" domestic species you also need to include the "pastured" chickens, prized for their romanticized lives, freedom, and omega 3 contents. In the 1920's chickens were slaughtered at 112 days of life and they weighed less than 3 pounds. Considering they should live to 8-10 years, they are basically BABIES. Todays factory chickens are slaughtered at 45 days old and they weigh about 8 pounds on 1/2 the feed they were fed in 1920. "Pastured" chickens may have some freedom, but they also are unnaturally heavier than those from 1920, weighing about 4 pounds, and are slaughtered at 55 to 60 days old. Even these 'romanticized' birds are babies, and cost 4 times that the factory cadavers do. Nowhere near their age of real maturity. I would rather eat organic beans and nuts than their cadavers. But everyone makes their own choices.