We may now know when chickens were domesticated – but not why

The person is Colin Barras.

The earliest domestic chickens we have ever found lived no earlier than 3 670 years ago, suggesting that the world's most common domestic animal has a much shorter history than previously thought. It is unclear what drove the domestication process because these birds don't appear to have been raised for meat.

The red junglefowl is a wild bird that is native to South-East Asia, but it is not known when domestication took place. Some people think that the first domestic chicken lived 6000 years ago, while others think it was 10,000 years ago.

A comprehensive analysis of the evidence has been co-authored by Ophélie Lebrasseur. Between 1650 BC and 1250 BC, domestic chickens made their first appearance in the archaeological record at a site called Ban Non Wat.