Researchers track global dispersion of chickens throughout history using DNA
Monday, July 30, 2012 - 10:02
in Paleontology & Archaeology
(Phys.org) -- The lowly chicken has had a remarkable impact on human history, providing a food source for innumerable people over the years. Modern scientists believe chickens (Gallus gallus) were first domesticated over 5000 years ago somewhere in Southeast Asia, and since that time have been carried to every place that humans exist. Tracking their migration helps historians track human migration. Now new research by a team made up of people from a variety of sciences from around the world has found, using mitochondrial DNA evidence from bones of ancient chickens, what they believe to be the great-grandmothers of the modern chicken. They have published their findings in the journal PLoS One.