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BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES / ANTHROPOLOGY
Radiocarbon and DNA evidence for a pre-Columbian introduction of Polynesian chickens to Chile

Alice A. Storey^*,, José Miguel Ramírez, Daniel Quiroz, David V. Burley^¶, David J. Addison^||, Richard Walter^**, Atholl J. Anderson, Terry L. Hunt, J. Stephen Athens, Leon Huynen^¶¶, and Elizabeth A. Matisoo-Smith^*,

*Department of Anthropology and Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand; Proyecto Dipuv-Reg No. 26/2005, Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile; Dirección de Bibliotecas, Archivos y Museos-Proyecto Fondecyt, 1020272 Santiago, Chile; ^¶Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University EBD 9635-8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 1S6; ^||Institute of Samoan Studies, American Samoa Community College, Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799; **Department of Anthropology, University of Otago, 2nd Floor Sir John Richardson Building, Castle Street, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand; Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia; Department of Anthropology, University of Hawai'i-Manoa, 2424 Maile Way, Honolulu, HI 96822; International Archaeological Research Institute, 2081 Young Street, Honolulu, HI 96826-2231; and ^¶¶Institute of Molecular BioSciences and Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Massey University, Albany, Auckland 0632, New Zealand

Communicated by Patrick V. Kirch, University of California, Berkeley, CA, May 1, 2007 (received for review February 10, 2007)

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.

ancient DNA | Gallus gallus | Polynesia

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data deposition: The sequences reported in this paper have been deposited in the GenBank database (accession nos. EF535236–EF535249).

This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0703993104/DC1.

To whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: asto062{at}ec.auckland.ac.nz or e.matisoo-smith{at}auckland.ac.nz

© 2007 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA

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