section_path: Dispersal/Eurasia
section_name: Eurasia
paragraph_text: Eurasia
  
  Chicken remains have been difficult to date, given the small and fragile bird bones; this may account for discrepancies in dates given by different sources. Archaeological evidence is supplemented by mentions in historical texts from the last few centuries BC, and by depictions in prehistoric artworks, such as across Central Asia. Chickens were widespread throughout southern Central Asia by the 4th century BC.
  
  Middle Eastern chicken remains go back to a little earlier than 2000 BC in Syria. Phoenicians spread chickens along the Mediterranean coasts as far as Iberia. During the Hellenistic period (4th–2nd centuries BC), in the southern Levant, chickens began to be widely domesticated for food. The first pictures of chickens in Europe are found on Corinthian pottery of the 7th century BC.
  
  Breeding increased under the Roman Empire and reduced in the Middle Ages. Genetic sequencing of chicken bones from archaeological sites in Europe revealed that in the High Middle Ages chickens became less aggressive and began to lay eggs earlier in the breeding season.