Archaeological evidence reveals: the beginning of the industrial breeding of chickens - in Israel 2,300 years ago

*At the Hellenistic site of Marsha, located in the Judean Lowlands in the Lachish region, researchers from the University of Haifa found the earliest evidence of industrial raising of chickens for meat and eggs 2,300 years ago. This discovery precedes the beginning of the industrial breeding of the rooster in Europe by more than 100 years

Industrial breeding of poultry for meat and eggs began here, in Israel, about 2,300 years ago and only then reached Europe, according to a new study by a team of researchers from the Zinman Institute of Archeology at the University of Haifa, published in the prestigious journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences). "The study of the animal remains from the Hellenistic site of Marsha in the Judean Lowlands sheds light on the beginning of this economic transformation, and presents the earliest evidence in the Western world of a large-scale poultry industry," noted Perry-Gal, who led the study. Upon its arrival in Europe, the rooster becomes a major source of animal food. "The change was sharp and fast, within a few decades the rooster was established all over the Middle East and Europe. It seems that these were the residents of Marsha who cultivated a new breed of rooster that was especially suitable for industrial farming," explains Prof. Bar-Oz, head of the research group that published the finding.

The origin of the rooster is in the Far East, in Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam), where it was first domesticated about 8,000 years ago. Only 5000 years later, the first roosters arrive in the Middle East, but their number in the sites is minimal. During this period, the rooster was considered an exotic and rare animal, its use was mainly limited to ritual purposes and cockfights, as is also known from historical sources. It is known that even during the Biblical period the rooster was not raised in Israel - it is not mentioned in the Bible and is not represented among animal remains from archaeological sites from this period. To this day, the time and place where the commercial breeding of chickens as a farm animal for meat and eggs began remains a mystery.

Now it seems that the team of researchers, which includes research student Lee Perry-Gal, Dr. Adi Ehrlich, Prof. Ayelet Gilboa and Prof. Guy Bar-Oz from the Zinman Institute of Archeology at the University of Haifa, have found the answer - about 2,300 years ago in Israel during the Hellenistic period (the century the fourth BCE), or more precisely, in the settlement of Marsha in the Judean lowlands. Today Marsha is part of the Beit Govrin National Park - Marsha. On the site there are a large number of underground agricultural facilities that indicate that agricultural exports were a major economic branch in the settlement. A large number of chicken bones were discovered inside the facilities. The site was previously excavated by Prof. Amos Kloner and currently by Dr. Ian Stern on behalf of the Antiquities Authority. In 2014, Marsha and the nearby Beit Gubrin were declared a World Heritage Site.

The archaeo-zoological research of Haifa University researchers focused on many bones and remains of a variety of animals found in the underground spaces at the site. The most surprising finding in the study concerned the amount of rooster bones: about 30% of all the animal bones found at the site were identified as rooster bones, compared to the small percentages found in parallel Hellenistic sites throughout the Middle East. During this period the rooster is also extremely rare in Europe. The abundance of bones, along with burn marks and butchering patterns on the bones indicate that the discovered chickens were raised and eaten at the site. The large amount of bones strengthens the assumption that part of this central industry was also used for export. Wall paintings of roosters and figurines in the form of roosters discovered in Marsha are also convincing evidence of the importance of the rooster to the city's economy.

Apparently, raising chickens in Marsha was not just for meat needs. An in-depth analysis of the bones revealed that most of the individuals were laying females in various stages of laying. This is the oldest evidence of egg farming. Only about 300 years later, recipes using eggs for cooking and baking appear for the first time in the Roman cookbook of Apicius and in other Roman sources.

In light of these discoveries, the researchers conducted a comprehensive survey of no less than 230 sites in the southern Levant, starting from the second millennium BC. The findings showed that until the Hellenistic period (around the third century BC) the percentage of roosters was minimal, and only starting from this period there was a dramatic jump - both in the percentage of roosters in the sites and in the percentage of sites that include roosters. Marsha's website presents the earliest and clearest evidence of this "jump". From another survey conducted by the researchers who examined the remains of the rooster in dozens of sites in Europe, it became clear that such a "jump" in the percentage of the rooster occurred in Europe only about a hundred or two hundred years later.

According to the researchers, the research findings shed new light on our understanding of the beginning of the process of economic exploitation of the rooster and the route of its spread to Europe and the Mediterranean basin. After its penetration into the Middle Eastern diet, the rooster gradually spread to the rest of the Western world and was assimilated into livestock. "Hundreds of years of gradual acclimatization of the rooster to the Mediterranean climate in the southern Levant, together with the gradual assimilation of this animal into the Middle Eastern economy, apparently created a resistant breed of rooster adapted for economic exploitation. The spirit of globalization that characterized the Hellenistic regime in our regions, together with developments in the fields of science and commerce created the appropriate conditions for changing the status of the chicken and introducing it to the human menu. In the Roman period, about a hundred or two hundred years after the beginning of its industrial cultivation in Marsha, the Romans became familiar with the new breed of rooster, and through them it was gradually distributed to the cultural centers of Europe", noted Peri-Gal and Prof. Bar-Oz.

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