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Radiocarbon dating redefines the timing and circumstances of the chicken’s introduction to Europe and northwest Africa
Abstract
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’.
... The site was furnished with a large ornamental garden to the south, which from the 1st century was home to a variety of imported fauna, including fallow deer 71 and chickens. 72 However, by the 3rd-century, the palace was in an increasing state of disrepair and was abandoned in c.CE 270 following a fire. The early date and short duration of occupation is supported by direct radiocarbon date of cat remains to 96 BCE-CE 17 (Fishbourne_1; OxA-38875, 2038 ± 16) and 4-85 AD (Fishbourne_2; OxA-38877, 1950 ± 17) respectively, at 95.4% probability. ...
Domestic cats were derived from the Near Eastern wildcat (Felis lybica), after which they dispersed with peolple into Europe. As they did so, it is possible that they interbred with the indigenous population of European wildcats (Felis silvestris). Gene flow between incoming domestic animals and closely related indigenous wild species has been previously demonstrated in other taxa, including pigs, sheep, goats, bees, chickens, and
cattle. In the case of cats, a lack of nuclear, genome-wide data, particularly from Near Eastern wildcats, has made it difficult to either detect or quantify this possibility. To address these issues, we generated 75 ancient mitochondrial genomes, 14 ancient nuclear genomes, and 31 modern nuclear genomes from European and Near Eastern wildcats. Our results demonstrate that despite cohabitating for at least 2,000 years on the European mainland and in Britain, most modern domestic cats possessed less than 10% of their ancestry from European wildcats, and ancient European wildcats possessed little to no ancestry from domestic cats. The antiquity and strength of this reproductive isolation between introduced domestic cats and local wildcats was likely the result of behavioral and ecological differences. Intriguingly, this long-lasting reproductive isolation is currently being eroded in parts of the species’ distribution as a result of anthropogenic activities.
... Cats may have arrived with farmers late in the Neolithic, along with the spread of house mice. Chickens appear in Italy and France by the 6th-5th century BCE, probably via trade links (Best et al., 2021). Around the same time, selective rabbit breeding and intensive control is documented through analyses on remains from Roman contexts in southern France. ...
Іn 2016, the Slobozhanska Early Medieval Archaeological Expedition has excavated the complex 16 — a pit-cellar, quite typical for sites of the forest-steppe variant of the Saltiv culture in the Siverskyi Dinets basin. The small material is also quite typical for the Saltiv population. The pottery is represented by two fragments of pithos and a fragment of an amphora handle with a neck. The kitchenware from the assemblage was a hand-made: touched up on a potter’s wheel and shaped by hand. The handle and walls of the jars of good quality were also found. The compact find of five bones of roosters tarsometatarsus from the filling of the assemblage attracts attention. This paper attempts to analyze this unique find. The role and significance of the bird in the Saltiv culture is also analyzed. The birds were of normal size, the length of the bones differs from the roosters from earlier sites as well as from some modern outbred roosters by less than 1 cm. Signs that they were fighting roosters (as a result of fights, the birds get leg injuries which remain the marks on the bones) are visible. The small number of finds of chickens in general at the sites of the Saltiv culture does not allow us to claim that they were used in the economy. Currently, this is only the second find of tarsometatarsi of roosters at the sites of the Saltiv culture (the first one comes from the so-called ritual assemblage from Mayaki). In the scientific literature, accordingly, there have been no attempts to interpret such cases. Taking into account the historiographic review of the problems of interpretation of roosters in general from archaeological sites, we come to the conclusion that the tarsometatarsus of roosters could be a symbol (amulets) of bravery and militancy, respectively, most likely, of warriors. And the act of burying this symbol (amulets) can be an act of taking away the powers of a warrior.
Determining the age of bird remains after the cessation of growth is challenging due to the absence of techniques such as tooth eruption and wear available for mammals. Without these techniques it is difficult to reconstruct hunting strategies, husbandry regimes and wider human‐animal relationships. This paper presents a new method, developed from a collection (n = 71) of known‐age specimens of domestic fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus L. 1758), for assessing age based on the fusion and size of the tarsometatarsal spur. Using this method we reconstruct the demographics of domestic fowl from Iron Age to Early Modern sites in Britain to reveal the changing dynamics of human‐domestic fowl relationships. We highlight the advanced age that cockerels often attained in their early history and how their life expectancies have subsequently declined.
Determining the age of bird remains after the cessation of growth is challenging due to the absence of techniques such as tooth eruption and wear available for mammals. Without these techniques it is difficult to reconstruct hunting strategies, husbandry regimes and wider human‐animal relationships. This paper presents a new method, developed from a collection (n = 71) of known‐age specimens of domestic fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus L. 1758), for assessing age based on the fusion and size of the tarsometatarsal spur. Using this method we reconstruct the demographics of domestic fowl from Iron Age to Early Modern sites in Britain to reveal the changing dynamics of human‐domestic fowl relationships. We highlight the advanced age that cockerels often attained in their early history and how their life expectancies have subsequently declined.
In central and northern Italy, the first millennium BC was characterised by the rise of urbanism and an expansion of nearly every area of production. Agriculture was no exception, and an increase in the scale and intensity of agricultural production sustained, and was sustained by, economic and population growth. Within this context, animal management also evolved to meet the needs of the changing protohistoric landscape. Pigs grew in importance as meat producers, and a greater emphasis was placed on animal-derived products like wool. These changes can be linked to the subsistence requirements of urban populations and the value of raw materials; however, beyond these functional explanations, the wider socio-economic context of animal husbandry is rarely explored. This paper aims to bridge the gap between the zooarchaeological evidence for livestock production and the socio-economic transformations that drove animal management. Three aspects of protohistoric husbandry are explored through discussion of pig, cattle, sheep, and chicken exploitation: greater differentiation in livestock production between different site types, specialisation of animals through selective breeding, and the adoption of new forms of livestock. These lines of evidence demonstrate the role of animals in socio-economic networks of distribution and dependence, and they highlight the importance of agricultural produce in the articulation of social hierarchies. As in the transformation of other forms for material culture during this of this period, livestock husbandry regimes were not simply the deterministic result of wider socio-economic change, but a medium actively adapted for its expression.
Radiocarbon (C) ages cannot provide absolutely dated chronologies for archaeological or paleoenvironmental studies directly but must be converted to calendar age equivalents using a calibration curve compensating for fluctuations in atmospheric C concentration. Although calibration curves are constructed from independently dated archives, they invariably require revision as new data become available and our understanding of the Earth system improves. In this volume the international C calibration curves for both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, as well as for the ocean surface layer, have been updated to include a wealth of new data and extended to 55,000 cal BP. Based on tree rings, IntCal20 now extends as a fully atmospheric record to ca. 13,900 cal BP. For the older part of the timescale, IntCal20 comprises statistically integrated evidence from floating tree-ring chronologies, lacustrine and marine sediments, speleothems, and corals. We utilized improved evaluation of the timescales and location variable C offsets from the atmosphere (reservoir age, dead carbon fraction) for each dataset. New statistical methods have refined the structure of the calibration curves while maintaining a robust treatment of uncertainties in the C ages, the calendar ages and other corrections. The inclusion of modeled marine reservoir ages derived from a three-dimensional ocean circulation model has allowed us to apply more appropriate reservoir corrections to the marine C data rather than the previous use of constant regional offsets from the atmosphere. Here we provide an overview of the new and revised datasets and the associated methods used for the construction of the IntCal20 curve and explore potential regional offsets for tree-ring data. We discuss the main differences with respect to the previous calibration curve, IntCal13, and some of the implications for archaeology and geosciences ranging from the recent past to the time of the extinction of the Neanderthals.
The article is a tribute to the pioneering role of Klavs Randsborg in the early Nineties in search for a new comprehensive chronology for Italian and European prehistory based on a combination of dendrodates with C14 dates. The debate of the last 25 years on this matter is presented, demonstrating a scholarly split, in particular in Italy. At the same time, an Italian peculiarity, the presence of layers of volcanic eruptions mixed with archaeological deposits is proposed as a sort of meeting ground for opponents and proponents of absolute chronology and a way to pair it with known cultural phenomena.
Changing patterns of human resource use and food consumption have profoundly impacted the Earth’s biosphere. Until now, no individual taxa have been suggested as distinct and characteristic new morphospecies representing this change. Here we show that the domestic broiler chicken is one such potential marker. Human-directed changes in breeding, diet and farming practices demonstrate at least a doubling in body size from the late medieval period to the present in domesticated chickens, and an up to fivefold increase in body mass since the mid-twentieth century. Moreover, the skeletal morphology, pathology, bone geochemistry and genetics of modern broilers are demonstrably different to those of their ancestors. Physical and numerical changes to chickens in the second half of the twentieth century, i.e. during the putative Anthropocene Epoch, have been the most dramatic, with large increases in individual bird growth rate and population sizes. Broiler chickens, now unable to survive without human intervention, have a combined mass exceeding that of all other birds on Earth; this novel morphotype symbolizes the unprecedented human reconfiguration of the Earth’s biosphere.
In burials dating to the Roman period birds, as well as other animals, are found included as grave goods. Such birds are mainly domestic fowl and were often prepared as a meal for the dead. Any relationship between such gifts of food and the terracotta or metal bird figurines that have also been found in graves, is suggested to be unlikely. The fact that chickens are, after pig, tlie most frequently recovered animals from grave deposits, may well give a totally wrong impression as to the original animal composition of the food given to the deceased. In general, grave gifts of domestic fowl were given to both men and women in similar quantities. The suggestion that chicken was used as a feminine symbol witliin the burial ritual, must be rejected. RESllMEN:En enterramientos de época romana se recuperan aves, ademàs de otros animales como ofrendas. La mayoria de las aves son gallinas que se preparaban normalmente como alimento funerario. Parece poco probable la relación que se ha llegado a postular entre estas ofrendas culinarias y las figuras aviares metilieas o de terracola también recuperadas en tumbas. El hecho de que las gallinas, sean, tris el cerdo, la especie animal mas frecuente en estas tumbas posiblemente no sea mâs que una evidencia engaSosa de lo que en realidad ocurrfa. En general, las ofrendas de polio parecen habeise dado a varones y hembras por igual. Carecé dé base, por tanto,-la hipótesis de que los restes de gallina serviri'an como sfmbolos femeninos en los rituales funerarios.
In conclusion, our analyses of sub-haplogroup C1 and haplogroups
A reveal the recent expansion of domestic chicken in
northern China at least from a maternal perspective. The molecular
dating does not support the scenario of early Holocene chicken
domestication in northern China, although the time estimates with
a huge 95% HPD should be treated with caution. For in-depth
unraveling of the chicken domestication in Northern China, more
efforts in analyzing genome-wide markers as well as ancient
DNA are required.
Ancient DNA provides an opportunity to infer the drivers of natural selection by linking allele frequency changes to temporal shifts in environment or cultural practices. However, analyses have often been hampered by uneven sampling and uncertainties in sample dating, as well as being confounded by demographic processes. Here we present a Bayesian statistical framework for quantifying the timing and strength of selection using ancient DNA that explicitly addresses these challenges. We applied this method to time series data for two loci: TSHR and BCDO2, both argued to have undergone strong and recent selection in domestic chickens. The derived variant in TSHR, associated with reduced aggression to conspecifics and faster onset of egg laying, shows strong selection beginning around 1,100 years ago, coincident with archaeological evidence for intensified chicken production and documented changes in egg and chicken consumption. To our knowledge, this is the first example of pre-industrial domesticate trait selection in response to a historically attested cultural shift in food preference. For BCDO2, we find support for selection, but demonstrate that the recent rise in allele frequency could also have been driven by gene flow from imported Asian chickens during more recent breed formations. Our findings highlight that traits found ubiquitously in modern domestic species may not necessarily have originated during the early stages of domestication. In addition our results demonstrate the importance of precise estimation of allele frequency trajectories through time for understanding the drivers of selection.
Domestic chickens are members of an order, Aves, which has been the focus of a revolution in our understanding of neuroanatomical, cognitive, and social complexity. At least some birds are now known to be on par with many mammals in terms of their level of intelligence, emotional sophistication, and social interaction. Yet, views of chickens have largely remained unrevised by this new evidence. In this paper, I examine the peer-reviewed scientific data on the leading edge of cognition, emotions, personality, and sociality in chickens, exploring such areas as self-awareness, cognitive bias, social learning and self-control, and comparing their abilities in these areas with other birds and other vertebrates, particularly mammals. My overall conclusion is that chickens are just as cognitively, emotionally and socially complex as most other birds and mammals in many areas, and that there is a need for further noninvasive comparative behavioral research with chickens as well as a re-framing of current views about their intelligence.
Fourteen bird bone remains (MNI=11), of 6 orders, 7 families and 8 species, dated ca. 7000 BP of Cygnus olor, Tetrao tetrix, Gallus gallus domestica, Gypaetus barbatus, Circus aeruginosus, Columba palumbus, and Pica pica have been identified. Hotnitsa is the 3rd site in Bulgaria proving the existence of poultrybreeding in the Chalcolithic-Early-Bronze-Age period. Game fowling, along the poultry-breeding, played an important role in the life of the inhabitants of the settlement. The ecological preferences in relation to the nesting habitats and the sites for feeding of the species indicate, that in the vicinity of the settlement were spread openland grassy terrains of scattered shrubs, mixed deciduous woods, wetlands (swamps, lakes and river floods), as well as rocky habitats.
The full taxonomic list o f the avifaunas o f 14 both human (towns, villas, castles, caves, etc.) and non-human sites from the Roman period in the present day Bulgarian lands is presented. The examined material consists o f 2736 bone remains o f at least 422 individuals. The species composition includes 86 taxa (o f 14 orders), six o f them, Pelecanus onocrotalus, Gypaetus barbatus, Phasianus colchicus (the native autochtonic subspecies, P. c. colchicus), Grusgrus, Otis tarda, and Tetrax tetrax, disappeared from the present day country’s breeding avifauna. Five forms of domesticated birds (Anser anser domestica, Anasplatyrhynchos domestica, Gallus gallus domestica, Pavo cristatus domestica, and Columba livia domestica) have been established. The remains o f domestic fowl prevail in most o f the sites.
Darwin's view of the monophilic origin of the chicken of the South Asian species (Gallus gallus) for the last 40 years was subject to serious objections. An overview of the numerous paleo-ornithological and archaeo-ornithological finds of various representatives of the genus Gallus from Pliocene-Holocene in Southeast Europe - Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and southwest regions of Russia. According to more common beliefs in the literature, the earliest appearance of the domestic hen in the Balkans concerns in the period of 1200 BC. - 1 c. A.D. Two finds from Bulgaria (Gallus gallus bones from the Thracian sanctuary at Kabile from 7 c. B. C. and a kylix of wine from town of Sozopol from 6th c. B. C., with a picture of cocks) are an indication of the possible penetration of domestic hen in Bulgaria and the Balkans no later than 7-6 c. B. C. The assumptions of paleo-ornithologists from the countries of South East Europe that domestic hens come from domesticated wild birds of the genus Gallus, too close to Gallus gallus, which survived until the late Paleolithic in the Caucasus and southern Ukraine, appear to be well grounded and completely plausible.
Twelve bird bone remains (MNI=8), of 3 orders, 3 families and 5 species (including domestic forms), dated ca. 6500 B. P. of Cygnus olor, Anser sp. (cf. Anser albifrons or Anser anser, Gallus gallus domestica, and Fulica atra have been identified. The findings of C. olor and F atra are among the oldest ones so far in the country. Yabalkovo is the oldest site in Bulgaria, proving the existence of poultry-breeding. Game fowling (mainly of water birds), along with the poultry-breeding, played an important role in the life of inhabitants of the settlement. Poultry-breeding was non-selective and both large (of the Colchic pheasant size) and small (of the Bantam breeds size) adult individuals of domestic fowl have been found. It is concluded from a broken and healed ulna of an adult individual of F atra that the bird had the opportunity to survive besides its incapability to fly. Hence, the conclusion that suitable refuges of dense swampy vegetation existed in the surroundings of the settlement. Complete review of Bulgarian fossil/subfossil record of all recorded species is represented.
Significance
Recent studies have identified the genetic basis of numerous traits that differentiate modern domestic species from their wild counterparts. In both plants and animals, traits (and the genes underlying them) found ubiquitously in modern breeds are often presumed to have been selected early during the domestication process. Here, by determining genetic variability in ancient European chickens over the past 2,000 years, we show that a mutation thought to be crucial during chicken domestication was not subjected to strong human-mediated selection until much later in time. This result demonstrates that the ubiquity of mutations, which differentiate modern wild and domestic taxa, does not necessarily imply ancient origins.
We present a compilation of tropospheric 14CO2 for the period 1950–2010, based on published radiocarbon data from selected records of atmospheric CO2 sampling and tree-ring series. This compilation is a new version of the compilation by Hua and Barbetti (2004) and consists of yearly summer data sets for zonal, hemispheric, and global levels of atmospheric 14C. In addition, compiled (and extended) monthly data sets for 5 atmospheric zones (3 in the Northern Hemisphere and 2 in the Southern Hemisphere) are reported. The annual data sets are for use in regional and global carbon model calculations, while the extended monthly data sets serve as calibration curves for 14C dating of recent, short-lived terrestrial organic materials.
In this paper, we present an overview of radiocarbon dating contributions from Groningen, concerning 9 sites from around the Mediterranean region: Israel, Sinai (Egypt), Jordan, Spain, Tunisia, and Italy. Full date lists of the 9 sites are presented. Our 14C dates are discussed in terms of present actual chronological debates. We show that all our 14C dates coherently support a "high chronology" for the Iron Age in each respective area of the Mediterranean region. © 2009 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona.
In this paper, we summarize the main chemical pretreatment protocols currently used for AMS radiocarbon dating at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, updating the protocols last described by Hedges et al. (1989). © 2010 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona.
An analysis of pre-La Tène period osteological finds of domestic fowl within the Czech Republic is reported. The oldest evidence, a part of a female skeleton, comes from the site at Ostrov-Zápy (Prague - east district) dated to the end of the Bronze Age (end of Štítary culture, Hallstatt B3, which corresponds to the second half of the 9th century BC). Other skeleton remains come from the Rubín site (Louny distr.) dated to the Hallstatt D period. These and other pre-La Tène period archaeological finds are analysed in the Bohemian and European context. The origin of domestic fowl in Central Europe, as well as ritual aspects and size are discussed together with detailed morphometric characterization.
If radiocarbon measurements are to be used at all for chronological purposes, we have to use statistical meth-ods for calibration. The most widely used method of calibration can be seen as a simple application of Bayesian statistics, which uses both the information from the new measurement and information from the 14 C calibration curve. In most dating applications, however, we have larger numbers of 14 C measurements and we wish to relate those to events in the past. Baye-sian statistics provides a coherent framework in which such analysis can be performed and is becoming a core element in many 14 C dating projects. This article gives an overview of the main model components used in chronological analysis, their mathematical formulation, and examples of how such analyses can be performed using the latest version of the OxCal soft-ware (v4). Many such models can be put together, in a modular fashion, from simple elements, with defined constraints and groupings. In other cases, the commonly used "uniform phase" models might not be appropriate, and ramped, exponential, or normal distributions of events might be more useful. When considering analyses of these kinds, it is useful to be able run sim-ulations on synthetic data. Methods for performing such tests are discussed here along with other methods of diagnosing pos-sible problems with statistical models of this kind.
Domestic fowl (Gallus gallus var. domesticus) can now be found in every continent across the globe (except Antarctica), and have become a dominant part of our diets. For Scandinavia, there is lack of knowledge regarding the timing of arrival and subsequent spread of chickens throughout the region. Domestic fowl were abundant throughout Norway by the mid-late Medieval period. Historical sources shed little light on the role of chickens in past Norwegian societies. Here we describe chicken remains from Medieval and Post-Medieval assemblages in Norway and identify osteological features and patterns that signal different roles for chickens in the past. Our data show that by the Medieval period there were at least two different-size breeds present, including a crested ornamental breed. In addition, we see clear evidence for the removal of spurs for the practice of cockfighting. Our evidence suggests a more complex role for domestic fowl than just a food source. The presence of multiple breeds and the evidence for cockfighting can be linked to the trade networks coming into Bergen and Oslo at this time, and highlight the socio-cultural aspects of chicken husbandry.
This paper discusses some of the approaches and results from two multi-disciplinary projects. The first is the AHRC-funded ‘Cultural and Scientific Perceptions of Human-Chicken Interactions’ Project, which investigates the history of the exploitation of chickens in Europe. The second is the Leverhulme Trust-funded ‘Rural Settlement of Roman Britain’ Project, which has collated evidence from excavation reports from thousands of sites. This paper updates the evidence for the exploitation of chickens in Roman Britain, showing that there were significant variations in the abundance of chicken bones found on different types of settlement. There was also a modest increase in their abundance during the Roman period, suggesting chickens became slightly more frequent contributors to the diet, albeit still only a rare commodity. However, they continued to be frequently represented in graves, shrines and other ritual deposits. The paper also discusses evidence of egg production and avian osteopetrosis, demonstrating that when traditional zooarchaeological research is integrated with scientific analyses, a deeper understanding of past human diet (and other avian-human interactions) can be acquired.
Between the gallic cockerel, modern and contemporary French symbolism, and the Gauls' cockerel, bred for more than two millennia, the difference is important and not only temporal. Indeed, gallic cockerel's imagery is linked with a latin homonymy Middle Ages have strongly used, firstly to ridicule France before French people themselves re-use it as a national symbolism. As far as they are concerned, hen and cockerel (Gallus gallus (Linnaeus, 1758)), coming from the southeastern Asia, seem to arrive in Gaul only about the 6th century BC, after they travel in Greece and Italy. Thus, chicken is the less gallic bird, particularly if we consider that ancient authors do not grant importance to Gauls' chickens. Otherwise, before roman conquest, the species is never used as a symbolic animal, in Gaul, and its archaeological remains stay, for quite a long time, poorly present in Gallic sites' faunistic cortege. However, the species seems to be the subject of some specific treatments which prove its strong establishment in Gallic farming and the particular vision people have about it: an animal which flesh is coveted, offering for gods or dead persons, even, initially, diplomatic gift and ornamental bird. © Publications Scientifiques du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris.
If radiocarbon measurements are to be used at all for chronological purposes, we have to use statistical methods for calibration. The most widely used method of calibration can be seen as a simple application of Bayesian statistics, which uses both the information from the new measurement and information from the 14 C calibration curve. In most dating applications, however, we have larger numbers of 14 C measurements and we wish to relate those to events in the past. Bayesian statistics provides a coherent framework in which such analysis can be performed and is becoming a core element in many 14 C dating projects. This article gives an overview of the main model components used in chronological analysis, their mathematical formulation, and examples of how such analyses can be performed using the latest version of the OxCal software (v4). Many such models can be put together, in a modular fashion, from simple elements, with defined constraints and groupings. In other cases, the commonly used “uniform phase” models might not be appropriate, and ramped, exponential, or normal distributions of events might be more useful. When considering analyses of these kinds, it is useful to be able run simulations on synthetic data. Methods for performing such tests are discussed here along with other methods of diagnosing possible problems with statistical models of this kind.
Precision and accuracy in accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating relies on the systematic reduction of errors at all stages of the dating process, from sampling to AMS measurement. With new AMS systems providing much better precision and accuracy for the final stage of the process, we need to review the process as a whole to test the accuracy of reported results. A new High Voltage Engineering Europa (HVEE) AMS system was accepted at Oxford in September 2002. Since then, the system has been in routine use for AMS dating and here we report on our experiences during the first year. The AMS system itself is known to be capable of making measurements on single targets to a precision of better than 0.2% for the 14 C/ 13 C ratio and better than 0.1% for the 13 C/ 12 C ratio. In routine operation, we measure known-age wood to a precision of just above 0.3%, including uncertainties in background and pretreatment. At these levels, the scatter in results is no higher than reported errors, suggesting that uncertainties of ±25 to ±30 14 C yr can be reliably reported on single target measurements. This provides a test of all parts of the process for a particular material in a particular state of preservation. More generally, sample pretreatment should remove as much contamination as feasible from the sample while adding as little laboratory contamination as possible. For more complex materials, such as bone, there is clearly more work needed to prove good reproducibility and insignificant offsets in all circumstances. Strategies for testing accuracy and precision on unknown material are discussed here, as well as the possibilities of one day reaching precisions equivalent to errors of <±20 14 C yr.
Domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus L. 1758) are one of the most valued farm animals in the world today. Chickens are widespread and economically and socially significant in Africa. Despite their importance, little is known about the nature of their introduction and subsequent integration into African economies. One reason for this is the morphological similarity of domestic chickens to wild galliform birds in Africa such as guineafowl and francolin. Here, we present direct dates and morphological evidence for domestic chickens recovered from Mezber, a pre-Aksumite (>800-450 BCE) rural farming settlement in northern Ethiopia. Key morphological markers differentiated these domestic chickens from francolins. The Mezber direct chicken element accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates of cal 820-595 BCE and indirect/charcoal AMS dates of cal 921-801 BCE constitute the earliest osteological evidence for chickens in Africa. Chicken bones in the domestic food waste of an early rural settlement at Mezber and their presence in later Aksumite urban contexts show that chickens were integrated into diverse Ethiopian highland settings. The Mezber specimens predate the earliest known Egyptian chickens by at least 550years and draw attention to early exotic faunal exchanges in the Horn of Africa during the early first millennium BCE. These findings support previous archaeological, genetics and linguistic data that suggest maritime exchange networks with South Arabia through ports along the African Red Sea coast constitute one possible early route of introduction of chickens to Africa.
Human-animal relationships have long existed, across cultures, in many varied forms. The associations between the two are integral to the creation, form, use and perception of landscapes and environments. Despite this, animals are all too often absent from our views of ancient landscapes. Humans experience their diverse environments through a variety of media, and animals regularly play an important role in this type of exchange. Landscape archaeology commonly emphasises the influences of humanity upon the physical world. However, such engagement is rarely unilateral. Whether herding domesticated mammals, hunting quarry, or merely experiencing the range of fauna which populate the world, many of these interactions leave physical traces in the landscape: the form and location of settlements, enclosures, pathways, woodland, pasture, and meadows. Also, in more subtle ways, human and animal actors work together in performances through which people subconsciously generate their perceptions of landscape and environment. These physical and psychological animal landscapes have the potential to inform on human society and ideology. This thesis seeks to utilise zoo archaeological evidence to examine this concept. Animalscape research could be applied to any place or period but as a case study this project will explore, through animal bone analysis, how landscape and environment were used to negotiate cultural identity during the Iron Age/Romano-British transition, a pivotal but poorly understood period in British history.
Research focuses on a c.200 km2 area of land bordering the West Sussex coast. This is a complex and singular locale, encompassing a number of Iron Age and Romano-British sites - most notably the elite settlement at Fishbourne which originated in the late Iron Age and developed, towards the end of the 1st century AD, into the largest 'Roman-style' domestic building north of the Alps. The site has been excavated a number of times in different areas since its discovery in 1960 until 2002; the various investigations producing a large quantity of animal bone. Yet this has, until now however, only been subjected to piecemeal analysis. The full re-analysis of the Fishbourne faunal assemblage is central to this project. To place these new data in their wider context, existing animal bone information from all pertinent published and 'grey' zoo archaeological literature is synthesised. The resulting datasets allow for a detailed examination of animal landscapes across the Iron Age/Romano-British transition at three nested scales: site and context; hinterland/region; and, Empire.
Integrating the zooarchaeological data with evidence from landscape and environment studies, Iron Age/Roman archaeology, ancient history and, most importantly, social anthropology is key to this project. A new theoretical framework is adopted here, whereby animals are seen not simply as passive indicators of economy and environment but as active beings, providing visual, audio and physical experience, and it is through these novel approaches by considering the human-animal-landscape relationship, that a new insight into the cultural changes of the Iron Age to Romano-British transition will be obtained.
The chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is the most widespread domestic animal in the world. However, the timings and locations of their domestication have remained debatable for over a century. China, and particularly northern China, has been claimed as one of the early centers for the domestication of chickens, because many chicken remains have been discovered at a number of archaeological sites. However, the identification of archaeological domestic chicken bones from early Holocene sites in China remains contentious. In this study, we analyzed 1831 bird bones, which included 429 bones previously recorded as “domestic chicken” from 18 Neolithic and early Bronze Age sites in central and northern China. Although morphological species identification criteria for the bones of 55 modern Chinese Phasianidae species, including the domestic chicken and wild red junglefowls, have not yet been fully established, upon reanalysis none of the “domestic chicken” bones were derived from chickens. In addition, bones determined to be candidate chicken bones were found at only 2 of the 18 sites, suggesting that chickens were neither widely kept nor distributed in central and northern China during the early and middle Holocene period. Further studies that combine analyses of morphology, ancient DNA, and radiocarbon dating are required to fully reveal the origin and history of the domestic chicken in northern China.
We document the developmental osteology of a captive population of cross-bred red junglefowl (Gallus gallus L. 1758) that were slaughtered at known ages from six days old until they reached maturity and explore the relationships that exist between bone size, maturity, body weight, and sex. In doing so, we contribute to the body of knowledge concerning developmental osteology in domestic fowl, which has previously focussed upon ‘improved’ breeds. Comparison with archaeological material demonstrates that regression equations developed from the study population to determine age from bone length measurements is unreliable, even when samples with similar mean size for adult birds are compared. However, greater understanding of the maturity of domestic fowl more ‘primitive’ than most comparative material available for study is used to assist in the assignation of three age classes - chick, immature and adult - and thus facilitate more nuanced analyses of age-at-death patterns in faunal assemblages. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
The quality of bone collagen extracts is central to the14C dating and isotope palaeodietary analysis of bone. The intactness and purity of the extracted gelatin (“collagen”) is strongly dependent on the extent of diagenetic degradation, contamination and the type of extraction method. Possible chemical, elemental and isotopic parameters for the assessment of “collagen” quality are discussed. The most important distinction that can be made is the one between contaminated bone (mostly from temperate zones), and bone low in collagen content (mostly from arid and tropical zones). The latter shows more variability in all quality parameters than the former. The natural level of contamination is mostly so low that stable isotopic measurements are not impaired, although14C measurements can be. It is concluded that there is no unequivocal way to detect natural levels of contamination with the discussed parameters, although their use can identify many cases. In low “collagen” bone, the parameters can identify the great majority of problematic samples: although deviations in these parameters do not necessarily mean isotopic alterations, the increased background found in these samples makes most samples unusable.
The paper compares the abundance of domestic fowl bones with those of sheep/goat and pig from published and unpublished reports on Romano-British animal bones assemblages. The samples are drawn from 68 urban, military, nucleated, villa and unromanized rural settlements. Variations in abundance of domestic fowl within and between these settlement types are noted. Some methodological problems encountered in this survey are discussed and suggestions are made about how more reliable results could be achieved. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Studies of animal introductions have traditionally been the preserve of ecologists and natural historians but here it is argued that exotic species are a rich source of cultural evidence with the potential to enhance archaeological interpretations relating to human behaviour and beliefs. This paper focuses on the domestic fowl (Gallus gallus), a native of East Asia that spread across Europe during the Neolithic to Iron Age and became well established by the end of the Roman period. After reviewing the evidence for the diffusion of chickens and the concept of cockfighting, this paper presents a speculative argument about the impact of domestic fowl on Iron Age and Roman Britain. By drawing upon evidence from history, anthropology and human remains analysis, the article explores how the arrival of these new creatures may have helped shape human society, particularly in terms of gender definition and attitudes to violence.
The simple method of graphite target development, first presented at AMS-7 has been further developed and refined. Experiments have been performed to study the range of possible reaction conditions and the effect of these on the nature of the graphite generated. The results from these experiments have been used to make the method as robust as possible with a high success rate, a quick reaction time and very simple apparatus requirements. This paper covers the details of the experiments, the conclusions drawn from them, and the technique now employed for routine graphite sample preparation at ORAU.
Bone is one of the most widely used materials for dating archaeological activity. It is also relatively difficult to pretreat effectively and new methods are an area of active research. The purpose of the chemical pretreatment of bone is to remove contaminants present from burial and to do so in a way which does not add any additional laboratory contaminant. To some extent, these two aims must be balanced since, on the whole, the more complex the procedure and the more steps included, the greater the chance for contamination. At the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit {(ORAU)}, the method used is a continuous-flow or manual acid/base/acid {(ABA)} treatment followed by gelatinization and ultrafiltration (based on Brown et al. [1988]; documented in Bronk Ramsey et al. [2000]). We find this overall method is very effective at removing more recent contamination in old bones. However, two aspects of the method have recently been improved and are reported here: the redesign of {ORAU's} continuous flow pretreatment and a new protocol in our pretreatment ultrafiltration stage.
Since its introduction in 19771, stable isotope analysis of bone collagen has been widely used to reconstruct aspects of prehistoric human and animal diets2–11. This method of dietary analysis is based on two well-established observations, and on an assumption that has never been tested. The first observation is that bone collagen 13C/12C and 15N/14N ratios reflect the corresponding isotope ratio of an animal's diet1–5,12. The second is that groups of foods have characteristically different 13C/12C and/or 15N/14N ratios13,14. Taken together, the two observations indicate that the isotope ratios of collagen in the bones of a living animal reflect the amounts of these groups of foods that the animal ate. Thus, it has been possible to use fresh bone collagen 13C/12C ratios to determine the relative consumption of C3 and C4 plants15–17, while 13C/12C and 15N/14N ratios have been used to distinguish between the use of marine and terrestrial foods14. The 15N/14N ratios of fresh bone collagen probably also reflect the use of leguminous and non-leguminous plants as food5, but this has not yet been demonstrated. Prehistoric consumption of these same groups of foods has been reconstructed from isotope ratios of collagen extracted from fossil bone1–11. Implicit in the application of the isotopic method to prehistoric material is the assumption that bone collagen isotope ratios have not been modified by postmortem processes. Here I present the first examination of the validity of this assumption. The results show that postmortem alteration of bone collagen isotope ratios does occur, but that it is possible to identify prehistoric bones whose collagen has not undergone such alteration.
Criteria are presented for the identification of diagenetic alteration of carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of bone and tooth collagen prepared by a widely used method. Measurements of collagen concentrations in tooth and bone, atomic C:N ratios, and carbon and nitrogen concentrations in collagen of 359 historic and prehistoric African humans, and modern and prehistoric East African non-human mammals are described. Carbon isotope ratios of collagen lipids from four bones are also presented. Compared to bone, whole teeth have significantly lower collagen concentrations, lower carbon and nitrogen concentrations in collagen, and similar C:N ratios. Carbon and nitrogen concentrations and C:N ratios are relatively constant over a wide range of collagen concentrations. However, prehistoric specimens with very low collagen concentrations have highly variable C:N ratios, very low carbon and nitrogen concentrations in collagen, and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios unlike collagen. At the transition from well-preserved to poorly preserved collagen the most reliable indicator of collagen preservation is the concentration of carbon and nitrogen in collagen. Concentrations of C and N drop abruptly by an order of magnitude at this transition point. These attributes provide simple criteria for assessing sample quality. Since collagen preservation can vary greatly within prehistoric sites, these attributes should be reported for each specimen. Use of purification procedures that remove acid- and base-soluble contaminants and particulate matter (carbonates, fulvic acids, lipids, humic acids, sediments and rootlets) are recommended. Wider adoption of these procedures would insure comparability of results between laboratories, and permit independent and objective evaluation of sample preservation, and more precise dietary, climatic, and habitat interpretations of collagen isotopic analyses.
Using archaeological evidence for chicken domestication from China, Asia and Europe, as well as palaeoclimatic evidence from China, it is concluded that chickens were first domesticated from the red junglefowl Gallus gallus in Southeast Asia well before the sixth millennium BC and taken north to become established in China by c. 6000 bc, whence they were later introduced to Japan via Korea during the Yayoi Period (c. 300 bc -300 ad). Domestication occurred in India much later (c. 2000 BC?), either independently or as a diffusion from Southeast Asia. Although the Iron Age was the main period for dispersion of chickens throughout Europe, they were already present in some areas during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. It is proposed that the earliest European material may be derived from China via Russia.
The co-occurrence of domestic guineafowl (Numida meleagris) and chicken (Gallus gallus) in prehistoric sites both in Africa and Europe has necessitated the construction of an osteological key to aid in their differentiation. This study deals particularly with the osteomorphological and to a lesser extent osteometric separation of fowls in a West African context (including larger Francolinus sp., Numida, Guttera and Agelastes sp. and Gallus gallus). This article will, however, be of interest to other Africanist and European researchers as well. The spread of the African guineafowl into Europe during the 5th century bc or earlier and Asiatic chickens into West Africa before 850 ad are important indicators of cultural contact which have gone relatively unnoticed. A summary of archaeological data available concerning the chicken in Africa is provided to give a background to the problem.
Animal Bones and Archaeology: Recovery to Archive
- P Baker
- F Worley
BAKER, P. & WORLEY, F. 2019. Animal Bones and Archaeology: Recovery to Archive. Historic
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Hühner auf einem langen Seeweg gen Westen: frühe Nachweise von Gallus domesticus aus der phönizisch-punischen Niederlassung von Mogador, Marokko
- C Becker
Becker, C. 2013. Hühner auf einem langen
Seeweg gen Westen: frühe Nachweise von
Gallus domesticus aus der phönizisch-punischen
Niederlassung von Mogador, Marokko, in
C. von Carnap-Bornheim & H.J. Kroll (ed.)
Living in liminality: an osteoarchaeological investigation into the use of avian resources in North Atlantic island environments
- J Best
Best, J. 2014. Living in liminality: an
osteoarchaeological investigation into the use of
avian resources in North Atlantic island
environments. Unpublished PhD dissertation,
Cardiff University.
La faune du Bronze final III du site fortifié du
- A Bãlãsescu
- D Simonin
- J-D Vigne
BÃLÃSESCU, A. SIMONIN, D. & VIGNE, J-D. 2008. La faune du Bronze final III du site fortifié du
Boulancourt « le Châtelet » (Seine-et-Marne). Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française 105:
371-406.
Birds from the ancient town of Kabyle (1st millennium B.C. -6th century A.D.) near Kabyle (Bourgas District)
- Z Boev
BOEV, Z. 1993. Birds from the ancient town of Kabyle (1st millennium B.C. -6th century A.D.)
near Kabyle (Bourgas District). Historia Naturalis Bulgarica 4: 68-77.
Middle and Late Holocene birds from the Eastern Upper Thracian Plane
- Z Boev
BOEV, Z. 2004. Middle and Late Holocene birds from the Eastern Upper Thracian Plane. Historia
Naturalis Bulgarica 16: 123-132.