Iron Age Brits kept ‘revered’ chickens as pets

And other stories from the stranger side of life

A chicken

Ancient Brits kept chickens kept as pets and used them as symbolic burial companions for hundreds of years, new research has suggested. The bird was so “revered” that Iron Age communities viewed eating its meat and eggs as taboo, reported The Telegraph. Professor Naomi Sykes, from the University of Exeter, said the findings show that “for centuries chickens were celebrated and venerated”.

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  Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.