Polynesian chickens suggest Polynesian/New World contact around 622BP
Just a few weeks ago I was ranting about how the spread of Kumara (sweet potato) in Polynesia suggested that Polynesians travelled over to South America to get it. Now there’s a paper out that apparently has hard evidence of Polynesian contact with the New World.
The paper, soon to be released in P.N.A.S. (well, once they lift their embargo), shows that DNA found in ancient chicken remains from Valparaiso and Santiago in Chile, is similar to that found in chickens from the Polynesian triangle. The remains have been dated to 622 years before present, which fits quite nicely with the established chronology of Polynesian settlement (e.g. Easter Island around 800-900BP at earliest), and is at least 100 years before European contact with the New World.
Until the paper actually comes out, here’s a few other sites with more info: University of Auckland News Release, John Hawks Weblog, Alice Storey’s webpage.
Update: the paper is now available: Radiocarbon and DNA evidence for a pre-Columbian introduction of Polynesian chickens to Chile (doi)
Posted on 
June 5th, 2007 by 
Simon Greenhill
2 Responses to “Polynesian chickens suggest Polynesian/New World contact around 622BP”
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Email Henry Updates to Me
August 5th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
As a child, in Pacasmayo,Peru, my grandmother raised a variety of chicken breeds in her orchard. She claimed that the chickens with the green eggs were original from Australia, meaning perhaps Polynesia. I grew up eating green eggs in the 40’s and 50’s. According to her these were the most nutritious eggs because the chickens laid eggs less frequently than other varieties. Is that a real true?. She was not an anthropologist, but many of the things I learned from her made total sense.
When I moved in America in the late 60’s nobody new or heard about araucana chickens’ green eggs, except for the Green Eggs and Ham story by Dr,Seuss.
August 6th, 2007 at 3:50 am
Hi Teresa,
That’s really fascinating - I haven’t heard anything like that before. Possibly there was some folk knowledge or something similar passed down, I’d love to find out more.
Thanks,
Simon