Chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus or Gallus domesticus) are the most common domestic animals worldwide. In 2017, the global chicken population was >22 billion (FAO, 2020; http://www.fao.org/poultry-production-products/production/poultry-species/chickens/en/). They are bred on all continents and countries except Antarctica and Vatican City (Lawler, 2015). To meet the growing demand for animal foods, high-yielding commercial chicken breeds were developed in recent decades for meat and egg production. Nearly 1,600 different local chicken breeds are internationally recognized (FAO, 2020).

Despite their global distribution, the origin of chicken domestication remains obscure. Two approaches have been used to investigate this subject. First, their morphological, ecological, and genetic characteristics were compared with those of other species using modern biological techniques. Second, the characteristics of the chickens were reconstructed for each era and region using zooarchaeological remains. Herein, prior research on the origin of global chicken domestication using modern biological and zooarchaeological approaches were reviewed, and future perspectives for studies on the origin of domestic chicken were discussed.