Katherine Reece Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Unless I missed it, on her page about
> pre-Columbian chickens this is not mentioned or
> explained:
>
Quote:A published, apparently pre-Columbian,
> Chilean specimen and six pre-European Polynesian
> specimens also cluster with the same
> European/Indian subcontinental/Southeast Asian
> sequences, providing no support for a Polynesian
> introduction of chickens to South America. In
> contrast, sequences from two archaeological sites
> on Easter Island group with an uncommon haplogroup
> from Indonesia, Japan, and China and may represent
> a genetic signature of an early Polynesian
> dispersal. Modeling of the potential marine carbon
> contribution to the Chilean archaeological
> specimen casts further doubt on claims for
> pre-Columbian chickens, and definitive proof will
> require further analyses of ancient DNA sequences
> and radiocarbon and stable isotope data from
> archaeological excavations within both Chile and
> Polynesia.
>
> Indo-European and Asian origins for Chilean and
> Pacific chickens revealed by mtDNA
> PNAS July 29, 2008 vol. 105 no. 30
> 10308-10313
>
> Kat
>

Storey et al have responded [www.pnas.org]

Kris accepts that the Gongora et al argument is flawed and that these may indeed be pre-Columbian Polynesian chicken, while saying (to me) "that we’re not talking about cultural transmission or big massive changes in societies, just evidence of landing and perhaps some exchange of information."

See also Fitzpatrick SM, and Callaghan RT. 2009. Examining dispersal mechanisms for the translocation of chicken (Gallus gallus) from Polynesia to South America. Journal of Archaeological Science 36(2):214-223. [archaeology.about.com]


Doug



Doug Weller

Director The Hall of Ma'at
Doug's Skeptical Archaeology site::
[www.ramtops.co.uk]