Posted on 04/07/2024 6:47:55 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
"This is the earliest evidence for the loss of seasonal egg laying yet identified in the archaeological record," says Dr Robert Spengler, leader of the Domestication and Anthropogenic Evolution research group at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Germany, and principal investigator on the study.
"This is an important clue for better understanding the mutualistic relationships between humans and animals that resulted in domestication."
The research team collected tens of thousands of eggshell fragments from archaeological sites along the main Central Asian corridor of the Silk Road. Using a method of biomolecular analysis known as ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry) they were able to identify the source of the eggs.
ZooMS identifies animal species from remains such as bone, teeth, skin, antler, and egg by characteristic sequences of amino acids in the protein collagen. Because ZooMS relies on protein signals rather than DNA, this makes it a faster and more cost-effective option than genetic analysis...
The results of their analysis shows that chickens were widely raised in Central Asia from approximately 400 BCE to 1000 CE and were likely dispersed along the ancient Silk Road.
The abundance of eggshells throughout the sediment layers at each site also indicate the birds must have been laying out of season and more frequently than their wild ancestor, the red jungle fowl, which nests once per year and typically lays six eggs per clutch.
It was this trait of prolific egg laying, the researchers argue, that made the domestic chicken so attractive to ancient peoples.
(Excerpt) Read more at cosmosmagazine.com ...
Bronze Age site in Ireland: Walls of the sunken fort are revealed in low tide in Clew Bay [can't post this source on FR]
I will repeat that the use of BCE is anti-Christian propaganda that is very rare in actual papers and isn’t used in this one either.
Archaeological and molecular evidence for ancient chickens in Central Asia
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-46093-2
No, it isn’t, but keep repeating that stupid pointless lie all you like.
So you like anti-Christian propaganda with the rewrite of the Gregorian calendar to replace “Christ” with “common” because saying “christian” is offensive. Good to know.
BTW rewriting history is what Marxists do. The paper in question uses BC and AD.
I would bet that chickens were domesticated in India many centuries before this.
Merchants travelling the Silk Road would have seen them and taken some away for their own use, eventually making
their way to Europe.........................
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