An old joke, but serious business for anthropologists and archaeologists studying the introduction of poultry to South America. Introduction of chickens to South America by European explorers had been proposed (or assumed), but Pizarro documented the presence of chickens among the Inca at contact. Researchers at the University of Aukland, using commensal modeling (studying distribution patterns of animals typically found with humans, such as rats, dogs, and domestic species), came to an interesting conclusion published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Examining mitochondrial DNA sequences from 12 samples collected at El-Arenal-1 in Chile, Alice Storey and colleagues found that the sequences match those found at prehistoric sites in Polynesia – Mele Havea in Tonga (2,000-1,550 BP) and Fatu-ma-Futi in American Samoa (AD 700-1390). The chicken bones found at El Arenal-1 were radiocarbon dated to between 1304-1424 AD, meaning they were present on the west coast of South America prior to Spanish or Portuguese contact on the east coast of the continent around AD 1500.
Radiocarbon and DNA evidence for a pre-Columbian introduction of Polynesian chickens to Chile is an important study in two ways. One, it provides the first direct proof of Polynesian contact with South America. (See this post). And since chickens aren’t known for being great fliers, they must have instead come by boat, or in this case, Polynesian sewn plank canoes. Two, it demonstrates what DNA analysis of other types of archaeological remains (not just human) can tell us about human migration patterns.
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Image adapted from Storey, A., Ramirez, J., Quiroz, D., Burley, D., Addison, D., Walter, R., Anderson, A., Hunt, T., Athens, J., Huynen, L., & Matisoo-Smith, E. (2007). Radiocarbon and DNA evidence for a pre-Columbian introduction of Polynesian chickens to Chile Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104 (25), 10335-10339 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0703993104
