The real chicken mystery has nothing to do with whether the egg came first. Scientists would like to know when, where and how a bird of the jungle came together with human farmers to begin down the path that eventually led to the Popeyes chicken sandwich. But recently, scientists have been reconstructing a past in which the birds, descendants of the red jungle fowl, were first viewed by humans as marvelous and exotic, then sometimes sacrificed to ancient gods and sometimes revered as status symbols. The picture that had emerged was one of early domestication 8,000 or more years ago, possibly in China or India or Southeast Asia. The researchers argue that the first archaeological evidence of domestic chickens coincides with the advent of rice and millet cultivation in dry fields that attract the jungle fowls, bringing them out of the forest into regular contact with people.

Source: The North Africa Journal June 07, 2022 17:43 UTC