Editing Chicken (section)

== Dispersal ==

=== Austronesia ===

[[File:Map showing prehistoric diffusion of domestic chickens (Gallus gallus) into the Pacific via the Austronesian migrations (Thomson, Lebrasseur, & Austin, 2014).png|thumb|upright=2|Prehistoric introduction of domesticated chickens into [[Oceania]] from the [[Philippines]] via [[Neolithic]] [[Austronesian expansion]] (starting at c. 4000 [[Before present|BP]]), inferred from genetic markers on ancient and modern chicken DNA (Thomson ''et al.'', 2014)<ref name="Thomson"/>]]

A word for the domestic chicken (''*manuk'') is part of the reconstructed [[Proto-Austronesian language]], indicating they were [[Domesticated plants and animals of Austronesia|domesticated]] by the [[Austronesian peoples]] since ancient times. Chickens, together with dogs and pigs, were carried throughout the entire range of the prehistoric Austronesian maritime migrations to [[Island Southeast Asia]], [[Micronesia]], [[Island Melanesia]], [[Polynesia]], and [[Madagascar]], starting from at least 3000&nbsp;BC from [[Indigenous Taiwanese|Taiwan]].<ref name= Thomson>{{cite journal |last=Thomson |first=Vicki A. |others= et al. |title=Using ancient DNA to study the origins and dispersal of ancestral Polynesian chickens across the Pacific |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=April 2014 |volume=111 |issue=13 |pages=4826–4831 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1320412111 |pmid=24639505 |pmc=3977275 |bibcode=2014PNAS..111.4826T |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name= Piper>{{cite book |first1=Philip J. |last1=Piper |editor1-first=Philip J. |editor1-last=Piper |editor2-first=Hirofumi |editor2-last=Matsumura |editor3-first=David |editor3-last=Bulbeck |title=New Perspectives in Southeast Asian and Pacific Prehistory |chapter=The Origins and Arrival of the Earliest Domestic Animals in Mainland and Island Southeast Asia: A Developing Story of Complexity |publisher=[[ANU Press]] |volume=45 |series=terra australis |year=2017 |isbn=9781760460945 |chapter-url =http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n2320/html/ch15.xhtml |access-date =May 5, 2023 |archive-date =November 28, 2022 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20221128075413/https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n2320/html/ch15.xhtml |url-status =live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FJ9ULYwX3zgC&pg=PA56 |title=The Cambridge History of the Pacific Islanders |first=Malama |last=Meleisea |date=March 25, 2004 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=56 |access-date=March 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913140948/https://books.google.com/books?id=FJ9ULYwX3zgC&pg=PA56 |archive-date=September 13, 2016 |url-status=live |isbn=9780521003544}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tlSspaBLkhoC&pg=PA411 |title=Anthropological Genetics: Theory, Methods and Applications |first=Michael H. |last=Crawford |date=March 13, 2019 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=411 |access-date=March 13, 2019 |via=Google Books |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913143140/https://books.google.com/books?id=tlSspaBLkhoC&pg=PA411 |archive-date=September 13, 2016 |url-status=live |isbn=9780521546973}}</ref> These chickens may have been introduced during [[pre-Columbian]] times to [[South America]] via [[Polynesians|Polynesian]] seafarers, but this is disputed.<ref name= Neumann>{{cite news |last=Neumann |first=Scott |title=Study: The Chicken Didn't Cross The Pacific To South America |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/03/18/291182073/study-the-chicken-didnt-cross-the-pacific-to-south-america |access-date=May 5, 2023 |work=The Two Way |agency=NPR |date=March 18, 2014 |archive-date=May 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230505060006/https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/03/18/291182073/study-the-chicken-didnt-cross-the-pacific-to-south-america |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Americas ===

The possibility that domestic chickens were in the Americas before Western contact is debated by researchers, but blue-egged chickens, found only in the Americas and Asia, suggest an Asian origin for early American chickens. A lack of data from Thailand, Russia, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa makes it difficult to lay out a clear map of the spread of chickens in these areas; better description and genetic analysis of local breeds threatened by [[extinction]] may also help with research into this area.<ref name= CHOF/> Chicken bones from the [[Arauco Peninsula]] in [[Zona Sur|south-central Chile]] were radiocarbon dated as pre-Columbian, and DNA analysis suggested they were related to prehistoric populations in Polynesia.<ref name="Borrell 2007">{{cite journal |last1=Borrell |first1=Brendan |title=DNA reveals how the chicken crossed the sea |journal=Nature |date=June 1, 2007 |volume=447 |issue=7145 |pages=620–621 |doi=10.1038/447620b |pmid=17554271 |bibcode=2007Natur.447R.620B |s2cid=4418786 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Storey 2007">{{cite journal |last=Storey |first=A. A. |others= et al. |title=Radiocarbon and DNA evidence for a pre-Columbian introduction of Polynesian chickens to Chile |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=June 19, 2007 |volume=104 |issue=25 |pages=10335–10339 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0703993104 |pmid=17556540 |pmc=1965514 |bibcode=2007PNAS..10410335S |doi-access=free }}</ref> However, further study of the same bones cast doubt on the findings.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gongora |first=Jaime |others= et al. |year=2008 |title=Indo-European and Asian origins for Chilean and Pacific chickens revealed by mtDNA |journal=PNAS |volume=105 |issue=30 |pages=10308–10313 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0801991105 |pmid=18663216 |pmc=2492461 |bibcode=2008PNAS..10510308G |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name= Thomson14>{{cite journal |last=Thomson |first=Vicki A. 
|others= et al. |title=Using ancient DNA to study the origins and dispersal of ancestral Polynesian chickens across the Pacific |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=April 1, 2014 |volume=111 |issue=13 |pages=4826–4831 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1320412111 |pmid=24639505 |pmc=3977275 |bibcode=2014PNAS..111.4826T |doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== Eurasia ===

Chicken remains have been difficult to date, given the small and fragile bird bones; this may account for discrepancies in dates given by different sources. Archaeological evidence is supplemented by mentions in historical texts from the last few centuries BC, and by depictions in prehistoric artworks, such as across Central Asia.<ref name= Peters24>{{cite journal |last=Peters |first=Carli |others= et al. |title= Archaeological and molecular evidence for ancient chickens in Central Asia |journal= Nature Communications |volume=15 |issue=1 |date=April 2, 2024 |page=2697 |issn=2041-1723 |pmid=38565545 |pmc=10987595 |doi=10.1038/s41467-024-46093-2|bibcode=2024NatCo..15.2697P }}</ref> Chickens were widespread throughout southern Central Asia by the 4th century BC.<ref name= Peters24/>

Middle Eastern chicken remains go back to a little earlier than 2000&nbsp;BC in [[Syria (region)|Syria]].<ref name="CHOF">The Cambridge History of Food, 2000, [[Cambridge University Press]], Vol. 1, pp. 496–499</ref> Phoenicians spread chickens along the Mediterranean coasts as far as Iberia. During the [[Hellenistic period]] (4th–2nd centuries BC), in the southern [[Levant]], chickens began to be widely domesticated for food.<ref name= pmid26195775>{{cite journal |last1=Perry-Gal |first1=Lee |last2=Erlich |first2=Adi |last3=Gilboa |first3=Ayelet |last4=Bar-Oz |first4=Guy |date=August 11, 2015 |title=Earliest economic exploitation of chicken outside East Asia: Evidence from the Hellenistic Southern Levant |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=112 |issue=32 |pages=9849–9854 |bibcode=2015PNAS..112.9849P |doi=10.1073/pnas.1504236112 |pmc=4538678 |pmid=26195775 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The first pictures of chickens in Europe are found on [[Corinth, Greece|Corinthian]] [[pottery]] of the 7th century BC.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NrIapgM4LwQC&pg=PA176 |title=Regional Greek Cooking |first1=Dean |last1=Karayanis |first2=Catherine |last2=Karayanis |date=March 13, 2019 |publisher=[[Hippocrene Books]] |page=176 |access-date=March 13, 2019 |via=Google Books |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913141141/https://books.google.com/books?id=NrIapgM4LwQC&pg=PA176 |archive-date=September 13, 2016 |url-status=live |isbn=9780781811460}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xwq1lunLkuoC&pg=PA207 |title=Cooking with the Bible: Biblical Food, Feasts, and Lore |first1=Anthony F. |last1=Chiffolo |first2=Rayner W. |last2=Hesse |date=March 13, 2019 |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]] |page=207 |access-date=March 13, 2019 |via=Google Books |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913080305/https://books.google.com/books?id=Xwq1lunLkuoC&pg=PA207 |archive-date=September 13, 2016 |url-status=live |isbn=9780313334108}}</ref>

Breeding increased under the [[Roman Empire]] and reduced in the [[Middle Ages]].<ref name= CHOF/> [[DNA sequencing|Genetic sequencing]] of chicken bones from archaeological sites in Europe revealed that in the [[High Middle Ages]] chickens became less aggressive and began to lay eggs earlier in the breeding season.<ref name= brown>{{cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Marley |title=Fast Food |journal=Archaeology |date=Sep–Oct 2017 |volume=70 |issue=5 |page=18 |url=https://www.archaeology.org/issues/269-1709/from-the-trenches/5820-trenches-europe-chicken-domestication |access-date=July 25, 2019 |issn=0003-8113 |archive-date=July 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190725160925/https://www.archaeology.org/issues/269-1709/from-the-trenches/5820-trenches-europe-chicken-domestication |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Africa ===

Chickens reached Egypt via the Middle East for purposes of [[cockfighting]] about 1400&nbsp;BC and became widely bred in Egypt around 300&nbsp;BC.<ref name="CHOF"/> Three possible routes of introduction into Africa around the early first millennium AD could have been through the Egyptian [[Nile River|Nile]] Valley, the East Africa Roman-Greek or Indian trade, or from Carthage and the Berbers, across the [[Sahara Desert|Sahara]]. The earliest known remains are from [[Mali]], [[Nubia]], East Coast, and [[South Africa]] and date back to the middle of the first millennium AD.<ref name= CHOF/>