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Chickens, integral to the world's economy today, stand as one of the most consequential animals globally. Their significance spans various industries, from agriculture to gastronomy, solidifying their role in the economic landscape.<br /><br />The journey of chickens, from their origins to their widespread distribution across the ancient world, remains a subject of intrigue and uncertainty. Recent archaeological advancements have challenged previous understandings, revealing that many bone findings once presumed to be early chickens actually belonged to wild birds.<br /><br />However, a recent study conducted by an international team of archaeologists, historians and biomolecular scientists has provided groundbreaking insights into the earliest evidence of <keyword id="21178748" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="chicken-domestication" source="Orion">chicken domestication</keyword> for <keyword id="1486334" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="egg-production" source="Orion">egg production</keyword>. This discovery sheds light on a crucial aspect of ancient human-animal relationships, potentially revealing the primary factors driving the spread of domestic chickens across Eurasia and northeast Africa.<br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="From Silk Road to supermarkets: Investigating the origins of chicken domestication" comment="subhead" text="From Silk Road to supermarkets: Investigating the origins of chicken domestication"><span data-til="noop">From <keyword id="621419" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Silk-Road" source="Orion">Silk Road</keyword> to supermarkets: Investigating the origins of <keyword id="62613" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="chicken" source="Orion">chicken</keyword> domestication</span></cmsannotation><br />The research team embarked on a comprehensive investigation, collecting tens of thousands of eggshell fragments from 12 archaeological sites situated along the Silk Road's central corridor in Asia. <br /><br />Employing advanced biomolecular analysis techniques such as <keyword id="189306" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ZooMS" source="Orion">ZooMS</keyword>, the researchers were able to identify the origins of these eggshells. Unlike traditional genetic analysis, ZooMS relies on protein signals rather than DNA, offering a faster and more cost-effective method for species identification.<br /><br />Analysing eggshell fragments spanning approximately 1,500 years, the researchers discovered widespread evidence of chicken husbandry in Central Asia between 400 BCE and 1000 CE. This suggests a significant role for this region in the early domestication and dispersal of chickens along the ancient Silk Road.<br /><br />The identification of these eggshell fragments as originating from domesticated chickens, coupled with their prevalence across various sediment layers at each excavation site, led the researchers to a significant conclusion. It became apparent that domestic chickens were laying eggs out of season, exhibiting a higher frequency compared to their wild ancestor called the red jungle fowl, which nests only once per year and typically lays six eggs per clutch.<br /><br />“This is the earliest evidence for the loss of seasonal egg laying yet identified in the archaeological record. This is an important clue for better understanding the mutualistic relationships between humans and animals that resulted in domestication,” said Dr. <keyword id="21178752" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Robert-Spengler" source="Orion">Robert Spengler</keyword>, leader of the Domestication and Anthropogenic Evolution research group and principal investigator on the study. <br /><br />All in all, this enhanced reproductive capacity is why domestic chickens became highly desirable to ancient societies, ultimately shaping their evolution into the globally significant species we recognise today.<br /><br />These findings were published in the journal <em>Nature Communications</em> and can be accessed <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46093-2">here</a>.

Research unveils the key moment that transformed chickens into the economically relevant animals that they are today

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Xinhua Wu</span></p><p class="caption">In a tomb in western China, scientists discovered human remains and evidence of marijuana use from 2,500 years ago.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Scientists have found some of earliest evidence of ritual cannabis use ever seen in the archaeological record.</li><li><span>In tombs in the Parmir mountains of western China, they discovered several wooden braziers with traces of THC, the most potent psychoactive agent in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/marijuana-weed-mental-physical-effects-2017-1">marijuana</a>.</span></li><li><span>The finding indicates that people smoked highly potent strains of marijuana for ritual and religious purposes at least 2,500 years ago.</span></li><li>Cannabis was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-6000-year-history-of-medical-marijuana-2018-6">first cultivated as a crop</a> in Eurasia more than six millennia ago, but was not initially used for its psychoactive properties.<span></span></li><li><span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></span></li></ul><p>It appears people have been smoking weed for more than two millennia.</p><p>Researchers reported on Wednesday that they've found some of the earliest evidence of ritual cannabis smoking in the archaeological record.</p><p><span>The evidence comes from stone-filled braziers - a device used to burn a plant and fill the air with its vapors - that were unearthed in eight tombs at the Jirzankal Cemetery in the Pamir Mountains of western China.</span></p><p><span>Preserved in the 2,500-year-old braziers were traces of cannabinol (CBN), the compound that forms after tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) comes in contact with the air. THC is the most potent <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/marijuana-weed-mental-physical-effects-2017-1">psychoactive agent in marijuana</a>. </span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Xinhua Wu</span></p><p class="caption">This wooden brazier with burnt stones in the center provides some of earliest evidence of ritual cannabis smoking.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span>The authors published <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/6/eaaw1391">their findings</a> in the journal Scientific Advances. The chemical signature of THC residue in the tomb, they said, indicates that people in this region of China likely smoked marijuana during burial ceremonies, perhaps as a way to communicate with the dead.</span></p><p><span>"It's the earliest strong evidence of people getting high" on marijuana, Mark Merlin, a botanist at the University of Hawaii, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/06/12/cannabis-first-used-2-500-years-ago-china/1431552001/">told USA Today</a>.</span></p><h2><span>This marijuana was potent</span></h2><p><span>Marijuana is one of the most widely used psychoactive drugs in the world today, but the legacy of its use and cultivation spans millennia. The earliest known cultivation of cannabis plants occurred in Eurasia roughly 6,000 years ago, but it was used as a food crop and for hemp material - not smoked for psychoactive effects.</span></p><p>Previous evidence of ancient cannabis smoking came mostly from historical anecdotes, not archaeological evidence. Greek historian Herodotus wrote about ritual and recreational pot use around the same time that these braziers were buried in distant China.</p><p><span><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874106002935">Scientists also found cannabis seeds</a> in a different 2,500-year-old Chinese tomb in </span>2006, but there was no evidence of smoking.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Robert Spengler</span></p><p class="caption">Dense patches of wild cannabis grow across the mountain foothills of Eurasia from the Caucuses to East Asia; these plants were photographed in the Tian Shan Mountains of Kazakhstan.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span>Usually, wild cannabis (<em>Cannabis</em> <em>sativa</em>) has lower levels of THC than its cultivated counterparts. But the residue in these Chinese braziers indicates that the type of cannabis smoked in them had higher THC levels than wild plants. It also had higher</span><span> amounts of THC than the cannabis grown in ancient Eurasia, the authors of the new study <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/emb_releases/2019-06/mpif-too060719.php">noted in a press release</a>.</span></p><p>The authors aren't sure whether the cannabis used in this region was intentionally cultivated to have higher amounts of THC (as it is today), or whether the people who conducted this burial had some other way of seeking out more potent plants.</p><p>Either way, they appeared to be aware that not all cannabis is created equal when it comes to its psychoactive qualities.</p><h2>These tombs had evidence of human sacrifice</h2><p>In the <span>Jirzankal Cemetery, the archaeologists also</span> found skulls and other bones with signs of fatal cuts and breaks, which they interpreted as signs of human sacrifice. They found a harp as well - an important musical instrument in ancient funerals and sacrificial ceremonies.</p><p>These clues from the past indicate that the burials had a ritual quality to them, and that smoking marijuana played a role in commemorating the dead.</p><p><span><em><strong>Read More:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ayahuasca-cocaine-shaman-drug-pouch-found-in-andes-2019-5" data-analytics-position="16">Archaeologists found a 1,000-year-old shaman's pouch in the Andes. It contained multiple hallucinogenic drugs, including cocaine.</a></em></span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Xinhua Wu</span></p><p class="caption">The excavation of the tomb M12, in which evidence of the oldest ritual smoking of cannabis was found. In the photo, the cannabis brazier can be seen at the middle bottom edge of the central circle.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"We can start to piece together an image of funerary rites that included flames, rhythmic music, and hallucinogen smoke, all intended to guide people into an altered state of mind," the study authors wrote.</p><p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/06/ancient-chinese-artifact-has-traces-cannabis-use/591538/">Merlin told The Atlantic</a> that <span>this discovery does not suggest ancient Chinese people were into recreational drug use. </span>Instead, he said, it was likely a spiritual practice - part of ushering the dead into the afterlife and helping the living commune with deities or the deceased.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/marijuana-cannabis-scanning-electron-microscope-2018-9">What marijuana looks like under the microscope</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

People in western China smoked marijuana to bury their dead 2,500 years ago - the oldest evidence of weed smoking in human history

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Research unveils the key moment that transformed chickens into the economically relevant animals that they are today

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