6.4 Consilient Evidence for the Pre-Columbian Introduction of the Chicken to America
109
by these West Polynesian, early Anakena and Hawaii, and the Chilean bone samples and
sequences reported from modern chickens in Southeast Asia, specifically from the Yunnan
region of China and Vietnam. . . Interestingly, samples from archaeological layers dating
to later periods at Anakena and from another later prehistoric Easter Island site, Hanga
Hahave, did not share these three SNPs. These sequences appear to be more closely related
to those of chickens from Island Southeast Asia, specifically from Lombok, the Philippines,
and Thailand. . .This suggests there were two mitochondrial lineages present in prehistoric
Polynesian chicken populations (p. 10337).
The clear archaeological evidence cited in the previous section in support of the
arrival of Spice Island mariners in southern California, both before 1000 BC and in
the period from 300 BC to AD 800, provides a chronological context in which we
can at least consider possible arrival times and dispersal routes for the Polynesian
chicken in America. (This chronological context of course differs from that provided
by a paradigm which sees the settlement of the Pacific following solely from the
late west–east settlement of Eastern Polynesia from Western Polynesia.) It opens
the possibility that the Polynesian chicken may have been brought to America with
either first- or second-wave Spice Island explorers following the Kuro Shio Route
to southern California. In this context the term “Polynesian chicken” perhaps more
accurately becomes “chicken breeds previously sourced by Spice Islanders from
India, Indonesia and Japan”.
An early direct route to America from the Spice Islands via the Kuro Shio
Current rather than an indirect route via a much later settled Eastern Polynesia
implies different sources for the introduced chickens. Long contact of Spice Island
traders with India, Japan and probably southern China, for example, suggests that
the claim by Gongora et al. [9] for a solely European origin for modern Chilean
sequences because they “cluster closely with haplotypes predominantly distributed
among European, Indian subcontinental, and Southeast Asian chickens, consistent
with a European genetic origin” is dubious when Spice Islanders would have had
access to the same sources from which European chickens are derived. Thus the
European origin ascribed by Gongora et al. to the Chilean chicken may represent
lineages directly sourced by Spice Island traders from India and Southeast Asia
and introduced to America before 1000 BC rather than solely derived from Spanish
introductions 2,500 years later.
6.4 Consilient Evidence for the Pre-Columbian Introduction
of the Chicken to America
The possibility of a very early arrival of the chicken in America is not a new idea, nor
is the idea of a Pacific coastal point of introduction and of a Polynesian source for
the American chicken. George Carter [10] effectively argues the case for a first-wave
introduction. On linguistic grounds he proposes an early arrival for the Polynesian
chicken and slow diffusion from New Mexico to Chile paralleling that for maize:
Birket-Smith (1943:32–33) reduced the names for maize in South America to two great
groups: Peruvian and Colombian. The Peruvian group included the old Inca Empire and
109
by these West Polynesian, early Anakena and Hawaii, and the Chilean bone samples and
sequences reported from modern chickens in Southeast Asia, specifically from the Yunnan
region of China and Vietnam. . . Interestingly, samples from archaeological layers dating
to later periods at Anakena and from another later prehistoric Easter Island site, Hanga
Hahave, did not share these three SNPs. These sequences appear to be more closely related
to those of chickens from Island Southeast Asia, specifically from Lombok, the Philippines,
and Thailand. . .This suggests there were two mitochondrial lineages present in prehistoric
Polynesian chicken populations (p. 10337).
The clear archaeological evidence cited in the previous section in support of the
arrival of Spice Island mariners in southern California, both before 1000 BC and in
the period from 300 BC to AD 800, provides a chronological context in which we
can at least consider possible arrival times and dispersal routes for the Polynesian
chicken in America. (This chronological context of course differs from that provided
by a paradigm which sees the settlement of the Pacific following solely from the
late west–east settlement of Eastern Polynesia from Western Polynesia.) It opens
the possibility that the Polynesian chicken may have been brought to America with
either first- or second-wave Spice Island explorers following the Kuro Shio Route
to southern California. In this context the term “Polynesian chicken” perhaps more
accurately becomes “chicken breeds previously sourced by Spice Islanders from
India, Indonesia and Japan”.
An early direct route to America from the Spice Islands via the Kuro Shio
Current rather than an indirect route via a much later settled Eastern Polynesia
implies different sources for the introduced chickens. Long contact of Spice Island
traders with India, Japan and probably southern China, for example, suggests that
the claim by Gongora et al. [9] for a solely European origin for modern Chilean
sequences because they “cluster closely with haplotypes predominantly distributed
among European, Indian subcontinental, and Southeast Asian chickens, consistent
with a European genetic origin” is dubious when Spice Islanders would have had
access to the same sources from which European chickens are derived. Thus the
European origin ascribed by Gongora et al. to the Chilean chicken may represent
lineages directly sourced by Spice Island traders from India and Southeast Asia
and introduced to America before 1000 BC rather than solely derived from Spanish
introductions 2,500 years later.
6.4 Consilient Evidence for the Pre-Columbian Introduction
of the Chicken to America
The possibility of a very early arrival of the chicken in America is not a new idea, nor
is the idea of a Pacific coastal point of introduction and of a Polynesian source for
the American chicken. George Carter [10] effectively argues the case for a first-wave
introduction. On linguistic grounds he proposes an early arrival for the Polynesian
chicken and slow diffusion from New Mexico to Chile paralleling that for maize:
Birket-Smith (1943:32–33) reduced the names for maize in South America to two great
groups: Peruvian and Colombian. The Peruvian group included the old Inca Empire and