Astonishingly little is known about the early history of the chicken
(Gallus gallus domesticus). To better understand their spatiotemporal
spread across Eurasia and Africa, we radiocarbon dated presumed early
chicken bones. The results indicate chickens were an Iron Age arrival to
Europe and that there was a consistent time-lag of several centuries
between their introduction to new regions and incorporation into the
human diet. Well-dated evidence for Britain and mainland Europe
suggests chickens were initially considered exotica and buried as
individuals, were gradually incorporated into human funerary rites, and
only much later came to be seen as just ‘food’.
