CULTURAL QA 12-2024-08
QA GENERAL- BASE QUORA QA
Q1 When did chickens appear in Europe?
KR These are facts from the science:2022
A new origin story for domesticated chickens starts in rice fields 3,500 years
ago
Two studies lay out how the birds went from wild fowl in Southeast Asia to
the dinner plate
Modern chickens originated around 3,500 years ago in Southeast Asia, later
than previously thought, scientists say. Rice cultivation apparently
spurred the transformation of wild fowl into a global menu item.
It turns out that chicken and rice may have always gone together, from the
birds’ initial domestication to tonight’s dinner.
In two new studies, scientists lay out a potential story of chicken’s
origins. This poultry tale begins surprisingly recently in rice fields
planted by Southeast Asian farmers around 3,500 years ago, zooarchaeologist
Joris Peters and colleagues report. From there, the birds were transported
westward not as food but as exotic or culturally revered creatures, the
team suggests June 6 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“Cereal cultivation may have acted as a catalyst for chicken
domestication,” says Peters, of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
The domesticated fowl then arrived in Mediterranean Europe no earlier than
around 2,800 years ago, archaeologist Julia Best of Cardiff University in
Wales and colleagues report June 6 in Antiquity. The birds appeared in
northwest Africa between 1,100 and 800 years ago, the team says.
Researchers have debated where and when chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus)
originated for more than 50 years. India’s Indus Valley, northern China and
Southeast Asia have all been touted as domestication centers. Proposed
dates for chickens’ first appearance have mostly ranged from around 4,000
to 10,500 years ago. A 2020 genetic study of modern chickens suggested that
domestication occurred among Southeast Asian red jungle fowl. But DNA
analyses, increasingly used to study animal domestication, couldn’t specify
when domesticated chickens first appeared (SN: 7/6/17).
Using chicken remains previously excavated at more than 600 sites in 89
countries, Peters’ group determined whether the chicken bones had been
found where they were originally buried by soil or, instead, had moved
downward into older sediment over time and thus were younger than
previously assumed.
After establishing the timing of chickens’ appearances at various sites,
the researchers used historical references to chickens and data on
subsistence strategies in each society to develop a scenario of the
animals’ domestication and spread.
The new story begins in Southeast Asian rice fields. The
earliest known chicken remains come from Ban Non Wat, a dry rice–farming
site in central Thailand that roughly dates to between 1650 B.C. and 1250
B.C. Dry rice farmers plant the crop on upland soil soaked by seasonal
rains rather than in flooded fields or paddies. That would have made rice
grains at Ban Non Wat fair game for avian ancestors of chickens.
These fields attracted hungry wild birds called red jungle fowl. Red jungle
fowl increasingly fed on rice grains, and probably grains of another cereal
crop called millet, grown by regional farmers, Peters’ group speculates. A
cultivated familiarity with people launched chicken domestication around
3,500 years ago, the researchers say.
Chickens did not arrive in central China, South Asia or Mesopotamian
society in what’s now Iran and Iraq until nearly 3,000 years ago, the team
estimates.
Peters and colleagues have for the first time assembled available evidence
“into a fully coherent and plausible explanation of not only where and
when, but also how and why chicken domestication happened,” says
archaeologist Keith Dobney of the University of Sydney who did not
participate in the new research.
But the new insights into chickens don’t end there. Using radiocarbon
dating, Best’s group determined that 23 chicken bones from 16 sites in
Eurasia and Africa were generally younger, in some cases by several
thousand years, than previously thought. These bones had apparently settled
into lower sediment layers over time, where they were found with items made
by earlier human cultures.
three rows of chicken bones
A researcher points to chicken bones from England that are more than 2,000
years old (middle), which lie between bones of larger modern chickens.
Jonathan Rees and Cardiff University
Archaeological evidence indicates that chickens and rice cultivation spread
across Asia and Africa in tandem, Peters’ group says. But rather than
eating early chickens, people may have viewed them as special or sacred
creatures. At Ban Non Wat and other early Southeast Asian sites, partial or
whole skeletons of adult chickens were placed in human graves. That
behavior suggests chickens enjoyed some sort of social or cultural
significance, Peters says.
In Europe, several of the earliest chickens were buried alone or in human
graves and show no signs of having been butchered.
The expansion of the Roman Empire around 2,000 years ago prompted more
widespread consumption of chicken and eggs, Best and colleagues say. In
England, chickens were not eaten regularly until around 1,700 years ago,
primarily at Roman-influenced urban and military sites. Overall, about 700
to 800 years elapsed between the introduction of chickens in England and
their acceptance as food, the researchers conclude. Similar lag times may
have occurred at other sites where the birds were introduced.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Q4 How did ancient people recognize fruits without fearing that
they might be poisonous?
KR I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW FROM WHERE ANNA BROUGHT THIS COCK AND BULL
STORY? MAY BE AN HISTORIAN.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Q5 Which snake is larger, Titanoboa or Anaconda?
KR Kakashi cock and bull is not based on anything but folklore.
Yes, a 50-foot-long snake lived in India 47 million years ago:
Name
The snake's scientific name is Vasuki indicus, named after the Hindu deity
Lord Shiva's serpent and the state of Gujarat where it was discovered.
Size
The snake was estimated to be between 36 and 50 feet long, making it the
largest known mastoid snake. It was almost double the average size of
similar snakes, like pythons.
Discovery
The snake was discovered in 2005 in the Panadero Lignite Mine in Kutch,
Gujarat. The discovery was based on the analysis of 27 fossilized vertebrae.
Characteristics
The snake was likely slow-moving and too large to forage, so it probably
ambushed its prey and constricted it to death. It was not venomous and
weighed about 1,000 kilograms.
Significance
The discovery of Vasuki indicus provides insight into the evolution of
snakes and how continents shifted over time. The collision of India and
Asia around 50 million years ago created a route that allowed these snakes
and other prehistoric animals to cross over and evolve
Researchers in India have discovered a giant extinct snake, measuring up to
50 feet long and believed to be the largest madtsoiid snake ever recorded.
The Vasuki indicus specimen dates back 47 million years and is almost
double the average size of similar snakes, like pythons.
Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee discovered an
"excellently preserved, partial vertebral column" of the snake, according
to their study published in the journal Scientific Reports. They found 27
vertebrae and analyzed each one to positively identify the specimen as a V.
Indicus, which is extinct.
Researchers named it Vasuki, which comes from well-known Hindu myth about
the serpent Vāsuki, which is wrapped around the neck of Lord Shiva, a
supreme deity in the Hindu tradition of Shaivism.
The snake was likely slow-moving and too large to be forager, researchers
said, noting it is more likely that it was an ambush predator that
constricts its prey like a python.
The specimen was fully grown and had a broad, cylindrical body, according
to the study, which said it could have weighed up to 2,200 pounds.
The only other snake with a similar length is the extinct Titanoboa, which
is *believed to be* the world's largest snake, measuring 45 to 50 feet long
and three feet wide.
The mastoidal family of snakes existed for around 100 million years in
Africa, Europe and India. But this snake is specifically from the Indian
subcontinent and existed approximately 56 to 34 million years ago, the
researchers said.
K Rajaram IRS 241224
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: 'gopala krishnan' via iyer123 <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, 24 Dec 2024 at 18:42
Subject: [iyer123] CULTURAL QA 12-2024-08
To: Iyer <[email protected]>
CULTURAL QA 12-2024-08
QA GENERAL- BASE QUORA QA
Q1 When did chickens appear in Europe?
A1 Silk Road - The Second Act, Have read 10,000+ books. Oct 27
They didn't just appear, spawn from the darkness; they were brought there
around the 8th century by Greeks, who probably got them from Persian
traders.
Chickens are native to Southeast Asia; they descended from red jungle fowl.
They migrated west down the trade routes more slowly than one might think.
First stop: ancient Persia.
The Persians weren't raising them for McNuggets; these birds had religious
significance because they were associated with their sun god Mithra.
They were still items of luxury by the time they reached Greece, where the
rich reared them for cockfighting and religious services.
People went to the extent that Romans made chicken guts a fortune-telling
business.
Before big decisions their priests would "read" the entrails of birds.
But the real explosion actually didn't take place until the Middle Ages.
Monasteries started rearing them earnestly for their eggs during Lent when
other animal products were taboo.
Smart move-chickens were compact, efficient protein factories that turned
kitchen scraps into breakfast.
There have been successive floods of chickens into Europe, each of them
carried different breeds.
The birds we see today are mongrels, mixed descendants of those ancient
various imports.
But they're all offshoots of those first proud combat birds, preening
their way into Greek ports, no doubt to make some Persian merchant rich and
alter the course of European gastronomy forever.
Q2 What was the question asked by the teacher to a student whose
answer baffled her?
A2 Manisha Babu,22h
The math teacher asked a child a question:-
"Suppose your buffalo doesn't give milk and you have to serve tea to the
guests who come to your house, what will you do?
The child said: -
Yes, I will bring milk from the market."
Teacher (smiling) :-
"Very good,, ok suppose the milk of the buffalo grown at home costs Rs. 42
per kg and it is available in the market ₹ 52.50 per kg, You bought 1.5
litres of milk and the milkman mixed 65 gms of water in it. So tell me how
much loss did you incur in total?
For not giving any answer the teacher made the child stand in the sun like
a rooster.
Now the teacher asked the same question to another student Rahul also.
Bal Babaji said: -
"Yes, I will bring milk from my uncle's house."
The teacher said:- "Suppose there is no milk in his house??"
Bal Babaji said: -"Yes, I will bring milk from my aunt's house."
The teacher said:- "Suppose there is no milk in his house??"
Bal Babaji:- "Yes, I will ask milk from the neighbour aunty."
The teacher said in irritation:- "What if milk is not available at their
home also??"
Bal Babaji said:- "Madam ji, I will roam around the whole village to ask
for milk, if I don't get it, I will give lemon water to the guests, but I
will not go to the market and get it!!"
Q3 What is the funniest joke you've been told that you still
think about to this day?
A3 Abscospi, Oct 8
Two workmen had been sent to measure the height of a flagpole, but it was
too high for their ladder. A fair haired girl passing by asked what the
problem was and thought she could help. Producing an adjusting spanner
(wrench/ crescent??) from her bag she loosened a nut, removed a bolt and
they lowered the pole till horizontal. She produced a tape measure, told
them it was 32 ft 6 ins. After the pole was upright and the bolt replaced
she left.
Typical blonde grumbled one of the men. We need the height and she gives us
the length.
Q4 How did ancient people recognize fruits without fearing that
they might be poisonous?
A4 Anna Sebastian,18h
For example, when we enter the forest.
Then there we saw a fruit tree that we had never seen before. The fruit
looked ripe, and tempting to eat. The fruit was very smooth, no visible
bite marks from bats or monkeys. No insects wanted to land, or caterpillars
wanted to live in the fruit. Isn't that strange?
If an animal that has no reason, and only relies on instincts to the point
of not wanting to eat. That means there is something wrong with the fruit,
aka it is poisonous.
Because everything that is too good to be true is usually “problematic”
Q5 Which snake is larger, Titanoboa or Anaconda?
A5 Kakashi Sensei, Admin Incharge and Head Councellor
(2024–present)Feb 28
The titanoboa far outweighs an anaconda, and is much longer than it too.
This is certainly saying something, especially when you consider the fact
that the anaconda is the largest snake in the world currently! The average
green anaconda grows anywhere from 15-20 feet long and the titanoboa grows
40-50 feet in length.
**The ****largest anaconda** was reportedly 33 feet long, 3 feet across at
its widest part, and weighed about 880 lbs. **This snake was discovered at
a construction site in Brazil Unfortunately, it either died in the
controlled explosion after which they found the snake or by construction
workers after it emerged. Either way, humans killed the biggest anaconda
ever found .
Titanoboa cerrjonensis is the world's largest snake, as far as we know. We
estimate that it could've been between 45 and 50 feet long, that it
could've been maybe 3 feet wide and would've weighed over a ton. Titanoboa
is not still alive. It went extinct around 58 to 60 million years ago. This
article was originally published on Aug. 9, 2023 and has since been updated
by the Discover staff.
--
To go to your groups page on the web, login to your gmail account and then
click on https://groups.google.com/
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"iyer123" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
email to [email protected].
To view this discussion visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/iyer123/1325640045.4190648.1735045959679%40mail.yahoo.com
<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/iyer123/1325640045.4190648.1735045959679%40mail.yahoo.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Thatha_Patty" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
To view this discussion visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZor3Q1HzrfPrnCcR65AGV7rrQgmr18GEiD1WUDGHazOrDw%40mail.gmail.com.
