Journal article
Redefining the timing and circumstances of the chicken's introduction to Europe and north-west Africa
- Abstract:
- Little is known about the early history of the chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus), including the timing and circumstances of its introduction into new cultural environments. To evaluate its spatio-temporal spread across Eurasia and north-west Africa, the authors radiocarbon dated 23 chicken bones from presumed early contexts. Three-quarters returned dates later than those suggested by stratigraphy, indicating the importance of direct dating. The results indicate that chickens did not arrive in Europe until the first millennium BC. Moreover, a consistent time-lag between the introduction of chickens and their consumption by humans suggests that these animals were initially regarded as exotica and only several centuries later recognised as a source of ‘food’.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 2.4MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.15184/aqy.2021.90
Authors
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
- Journal:
- Antiquity More from this journal
- Volume:
- 96
- Issue:
- 388
- Pages:
- 868-882
- Publication date:
- 2022-06-07
- Acceptance date:
- 2021-05-24
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1745-1744
- ISSN:
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0003-598X
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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1262493
- Local pid:
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pubs:1262493
- Deposit date:
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2022-06-07
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Best et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2022
- Rights statement:
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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