How chickens were domesticated

Domestic chicken have only been native to Europe since 800 BC. Markus Unsoeld - How the chicken came to man and found its way to Europe: Major new international research reveals new evidence about when, where, and how chickens were domesticated New research transforms our understanding of the circumstances and timing of the domestication of chickens, their spread across Asia into the west, and reveals the changing way in which they were perceived in societies over the past 3500 years. An international team of experts with the participation of Joris Peters from LMU Munich and the Bavarian State Collection of Palaeoanatomy has found that an association with rice farming likely started a process that has led to chickens becoming one of the world's most numerous animals. They have also found evidence that chickens were initially regarded as exotica, and only several centuries later used as a source of 'food'. Previous efforts have claimed that chickens were domesticated up to 10,000 years ago in China or Southeast Asia, and that chickens were present in Europe over 7000 years ago. Chickens were not food in Europe for a long time. They were often buried together with people, separated by sex: roosters with men, hens with women.