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Cited by 80Archaeology and ancient environmental studiesBiblical Studies and InterpretationArchaeology and Historical Studies

Earliest economic exploitation of chicken outside East Asia: Evidence from the Hellenistic Southern Levant

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Perry-Gal, Lee, Erlich, Adi, Gilboa, Ayelet, Bar-Oz, Guy·2015·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
DOI 10.1073/pnas.1504236112PMC PMC4538678
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Abstract

Significance: This study offers new evidence on the cultural history of the chicken, a species that until recently received limited attention compared with other domesticated animals. We provide evidence for the earliest known economic exploitation of the chicken outside its original distribution. This intensified use is first documented in the Southern Levant during the Hellenistic period (fourth–second centuries B.C.E.), at least 100 y before chickens spread widely across Europe. We explore the mechanisms for the spread of chickens as an important species in livestock economies from Asian to Mediterranean and European economies in antiquity to become one of the most widespread and dominant domesticates in the world today.

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Crossref · 10.1073/pnas.1504236112

Cites

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  • Increasing numbers of chickens at Neo-Assyrian, Urartian, Phrygian, and Levantine sites indicate growing economic interest in the species' exploitation during Iron Age II (~965 to 530 BCE).

    “Their increasing numbers at Neo-Assyrian, Urartian, Phrygian (SI Appendix, Table S2), and Levantine sites (46) indicate growing economic interest in the species’ exploitation during the Iron Age II period (∼965 to 530 BCE).”

    From The biocultural origins and dispersal of domestic chickens (2022) · cites this paper as [46]

    The ‘Chickens in the Southern Levant’ section reports a gradual rise in Levantine sites with chicken remains, supporting the increasing-numbers portion of the citation. It also says exploitation before the Hellenistic period was sporadic and places the conspicuous increase in that later period; it does not establish growing economic exploitation during Iron Age II. The cited paper’s survey does not substantiate the Neo-Assyrian, Urartian, or Phrygian portions of the sentence. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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Cites

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4 of the 64 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 12

  1. Maltby M (1997) Domestic fowl on Romano-British sites: Inter-site comparisons of abundance. Int J Osteoarchaeol 7(4):402-414.
  2. Badam GL (1984) Holocene faunal material from India with special reference to do- mesticated animals in Animals and Archaeology: Early Herders and Their Flocks. BAR International Series 202, eds Clutton-Brock J, Grigson C (Archaeopress, Oxford, UK), pp 339-353.
  3. Serjeantson D (2009) Birds (Cambridge Univ Press, New York).
  4. Garcia Petit L (2002) La migration du coq: De l'Extreme-Orient a la Mediterranee in Mouvements ou Déplacements de Populations Animales en Méditerranée au Cours de l'Holocène, BAR International Series, ed Gardeisen A (Archaeopress, Oxford, UK), pp 73-82.
  5. Aristophanes (1995), The Birds, trans Dunbar N (Oxford Univ Press, Oxford, UK).
  6. Cicero MT, Wardle D (2006) Cicero on Divination, Book 1, ed Wardle D (Oxford Univ Press, Oxford, UK).
  7. Hooper WD, Ash HB (1954) Cato and Varro on Agriculture (Harvard Univ Press, Cambridge, MA).
  8. Ericson P, Tyrberg T (2004) The Early History of the Swedish Avifauna: A Review of the Subfossil Record and Early Written Sources (Kungl, Stockholm), Vol 4.
  9. Erlich A (2014) Terracotta Figurines. The Excavations of Maresha Subterranean Complex 57: The "Heliodorus" Cave. BAR International Series 2652, eds Stern I, Alpert B (Archaeopress, Oxford, UK), pp 39-71.
  10. Kloner A, Zissu B (2013) The subterranean complexes of Maresha: An urban center from the Hellenistic period in the Judean foothills, Israel. Opera Ipogea. Journal of Speleology in Artificial Caves 2:45-62.
  11. Bourdillon J (1998) Of butchers and breeds: Report on vertebrate remains from var- ious sites in the city of Lincoln. By KM Dobney, SD Jaques and BG Irving. Archaeol J 155(1):417-418.
  12. Maltby M (2009) Bones: Mammals, birds and fish in Excavation of an Enigmatic Multi- Period Settlement on the Isle of Portland, Dorset (British Series 499) ed Palmer S (British Archaeological Reports, Oxford, UK), pp 27-43.

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Authors
Perry-Gal, L., Erlich, A., Gilboa, A., & Bar-Oz, G.
Affiliations
  • University of Haifa (IL)
  • Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 3498838, Israel
ORCID
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences
Published
2015-07-20
Volume
112
Issue
32
Pages
9849-9854
ISSN
  • 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
  • 1091-6490
DOI
10.1073/pnas.1504236112
PMC
PMC4538678
OpenAlex
W1937103663
Cited by
79
References
64
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 2
FWCI
3.54
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.pnas.org/site/misc/userlicense.xhtml (vor, 184 d)
Locations
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
Israel Science Foundation (grant 340/14)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Biblical Studies and Interpretation
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Archaeology and Historical Studies
Keywords
chicken domestication, chickens, Hellenistic period, Maresha, Southern Levant, faunal remains, chicken bone, sex ratio, cockfighting, animal husbandry, zooarchaeology
MeSH terms
Aging, Animals, Animals, Domestic, Bone and Bones, Chickens, Asia, Eastern, Female, Geography, United Kingdom, Humans, Israel, Male, Poultry Products, History, Ancient

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