The Origin of Chickens in the Archaeological Record

Radio carbon dating has revealed that chickens are much more recent than previously thought. The theory we're putting forward at the moment is that it may have been to do with rice cultivation. As cereal crops start to be domesticated in this area such as tiland, what we're seeing is a really nice correlation between the date of this crop domestication and the date where we're first seeing chickens in the archological record. So maybe the clearing of un areas for rice cultivation fields could have created an appropriate environment for the red jungle fowl which could have then been attracted into human niches based on the availability of food.