UNIVERSE OF NATURE

The Discovery That Rewrote Ancient Bird History For centuries, pigeons have lived alongside humans in cities, villages, ports, and farms. Many people today view pigeons as ordinary urban birds, but archaeology has revealed a far deeper story. A groundbreaking study from Cyprus has now pushed the timeline of human-pigeon relationships back by nearly 1,000 years. Archaeologists studying bird bones from the ancient harbor city of Hala Sultan Tekke discovered strong evidence that pigeons were already living closely with humans around 1400 BCE during the Late Bronze Age. The discovery is important because it changes what researchers previously believed about the domestication of pigeons. Earlier evidence suggested domesticated pigeons appeared much later in Hellenistic Greece. However, isotope analysis and archaeological evidence from Cyprus now indicate that pigeons may have already been semi-domesticated over 3,400 years ago. The findings also provide new insight into trade, ritu...