The chicken things stands out. The idea of an animal being domesticated but not eaten for a thousand years is striking. I'd expect most domestications were specifically for food, of animals we already hunted or trapped.
Is there any evidence for egg consumption? Would that be likely to show up in the archeology?
As the Chickens were not eaten and buried with people this would suggest that these were Game birds for Cockfighting. Game birds extended from across Asia to Europe and are still bred and exhibited. You get few eggs from them and little meat. The British breeds were the most aggressive and successful until banned from fighting.
This is a fascinating overview. However, it is not possible to talk about finds in Israel dating back 7,000 years since Israel has only existed for 75 years. And the first Jews to set up camp in Palestine, after arriving from what is now Iraq, were the Judeans around 3,000 years ago. This has been translated from Egyptian hieroglyphs, as have references to Palestine and Palestinians, 5,000 years ago. Surely in terms of archaeology the Palestinians should not be written out of history because of a colonial venture less than a century ago? Not that evidence of figs in Palestine should be surprising given the history of olives, vineyards and architecture in this country.
The chicken things stands out. The idea of an animal being domesticated but not eaten for a thousand years is striking. I'd expect most domestications were specifically for food, of animals we already hunted or trapped.
Is there any evidence for egg consumption? Would that be likely to show up in the archeology?
As the Chickens were not eaten and buried with people this would suggest that these were Game birds for Cockfighting. Game birds extended from across Asia to Europe and are still bred and exhibited. You get few eggs from them and little meat. The British breeds were the most aggressive and successful until banned from fighting.
This is a fascinating overview. However, it is not possible to talk about finds in Israel dating back 7,000 years since Israel has only existed for 75 years. And the first Jews to set up camp in Palestine, after arriving from what is now Iraq, were the Judeans around 3,000 years ago. This has been translated from Egyptian hieroglyphs, as have references to Palestine and Palestinians, 5,000 years ago. Surely in terms of archaeology the Palestinians should not be written out of history because of a colonial venture less than a century ago? Not that evidence of figs in Palestine should be surprising given the history of olives, vineyards and architecture in this country.