2007/06/07 by Alice A. Storey, José Miguel Ramírez, Daniel Quiróz +8 · 6 citations
Social Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond
paper · doi:10.1073/pnas.0703993104
openalex publication_date 2007/06/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
Two issues long debated among Pacific and American prehistorians are (i) whether there was a pre-Columbian introduction of chicken (Gallus gallus) to the Americas and (ii) whether Polynesian contact with South America might be identified archaeologically, through the recovery of remains of unquestionable Polynesian origin. We present a radiocarbon date and an ancient DNA sequence from a single chicken bone recovered from the archaeological site of El Arenal-1, on the Arauco Peninsula, Chile. These results not only provide firm evidence for the pre-Columbian introduction of chickens to the Americas, but strongly suggest that it was a Polynesian introduction.