Mummified scarlet macaw recuperated from Pica 8 in northern Chile. Credit: Calogero Santoro, Universidad de Tarapacá, and José Capriles, Penn State
Ancient Egyptians mummified felines, pet dogs, ibises, and other animals, however closer to house in the South American Atacama desert, parrot mummies expose that in between 1100 and 1450 CE, trade from other locations brought parrots and macaws to sanctuary neighborhoods, according to a worldwide and interdisciplinary group.
“Feathers are valued across the Americas and we see them in high-status burials,” stated José M. Capriles, assistant teacher of sociology, Penn State. “We don’t know how the feathers got there, the routes they took or the network.”
Parrots and macaws are foreign to the Atacama, which remains in northern Chile and is the driest desert worldwide, however archaeologists have actually discovered plumes in burial context and maintained in leather boxes or other protective product, and they have actually likewise discovered mummified birds — parrots and macaws — at historical sites.
“The fact that live birds made their way across the more-than-10,000-foot-high Andes is amazing,” stated Capriles. “They had to be transported across huge steppes, cold weather and difficult terrain to the Atacama. And they had to be kept alive.”
Detail of mummified blue-fronted amazon recuperated from Pica 8 cemetery in the Atacama Desert. Credit: Calogero Santoro, Universidad de Tarapacá and José Capriles, Penn State
Capriles, an archaeologist, matured around parrots and macaws due to the fact that his daddy was a wildlife supervisor and his mom, Eliana Flores Bedregal, was a Bolivian ornithologist at the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural in La Paz till her death in 2017.
While a postdoctoral fellow in Chile, Capriles examined the trade and transportation of products like coca, shell, metals, plumes, and animals around Bolivia, Peru and Chile.
“Calogero Santoro, professor of anthropology at Universidad de Tarapacá, mentioned the birds to my mother when she came to visit and suggested we study them,” stated Capriles. “Our idea was to say something about these parrots, where they were coming from and what species were represented. My mother is a coauthor on this paper.”
Most parrot and macaw stays, whether mummified or not, live in museums. The group checked out collections around northern Chile for almost 3 years taking a look at a vast array of what had actually been discovered.
“Once we started working on this, we found so much material about macaws and parrots,” stated Capriles. “Columbus took parrots back to Europe and the historical importance of macaw feathers for pre-Columbian societies was ubiquitous.”
Live scarlet macaw from the Bolivian Amazonia. Credit: Carlos Capriles Farfán
Most of the bird stays the scientists discovered date to in between 1000 and 1460 CE, starting at the end of the Tiwanaku empire and prior to the Inca came through the location. According to Capriles, it was a time of warfare, however likewise a fun time for commerce, with regular llama caravans moving about.
The scientists studied 27 total or partial remains of scarlet macaws and Amazon parrots from 5 sanctuary websites in the Atacama. They report their outcomes today (March 29, 2021) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Using zooarchaeological analysis, isotopic dietary restoration, radiocarbon dating and ancient DNA screening, the research study cataloged scarlet macaws and a minimum of 5 other parrot types that were carried from over 300 miles away in the eastern Amazon. The group mapped the unique natural habitation varieties of scarlet macaws, blue and yellow macaws and the numerous parrots to attempt to figure out how they took a trip to the Atacama.
The scientists likewise discovered that the birds were consuming the very same diet plan as the agriculturalists who owned them.
“What we consider acceptable interactions with animals under our care was very different back then,” stated Capriles. “Some of these birds did not live a happy life. They were kept to produce feathers and their feathers were plucked out as soon as they grew in.”
Perhaps more uncommon than the import of parrots and macaws and their effectiveness in plume production was their treatment after death. Many of the parrots were discovered mummified with their mouths broad open and their tongues standing out. Others had their wings spread out wide in irreversible flight.
“We have absolutely no idea why they were mummified like this,” stated Capriles. “They seem to be eviscerated through their cloaca (a common excretory and reproductive opening), which helped to preserve them. Many times, they were wrapped in textiles or bags.”
Unfortunately, a lot of the birds were salvage discovers — gotten beyond official historical jobs — so some kinds of information are missing out on, however the birds are normally connected with human burials.
The bulk of the mummies were discovered at Pica 8, a website near a sanctuary neighborhood that still exists today as a locus of products transportation. Pica 8 had farming throughout the time the birds lived there and is presently the source of treasured lemons.
“We know that the birds were living there,” stated Capriles. “That they were eating the same foods that people were eating enriched with the nitrogen from maize fertilized with marine bird manure. Llamas are not the best pack animals, because they aren’t that strong. The fact that llama caravans brought macaws and parrots across the Andes and across the desert to this oasis is amazing.”
Reference: “Pre-Columbian transregional captive rearing of Amazonian parrots in the Atacama Desert” by José M. Capriles, Calogero M. Santoro, Richard J. George, Eliana Flores Bedregal, Douglas J. Kennett, Logan Kistler and Francisco Rothhammer, 29 March 2021, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2020020118
Also dealing with this task were Calogero M. Santoro, teacher of sociology, and Francisco Rothhammer, teacher of population genes, Instituto de Alta Investigatión, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica, Chile; Richard J. George, postdoctoral scientist in sociology and Douglas J. Kennett, teacher of sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara; and Logan Kisler, manager of archaeobotany and archaeogenetics, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.
The Chilean National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development, FONDECYT; Universidad de Tarapacá; University of California, Santa Barbara; and Penn State supported this work.
