Pre-Columbian transregional captive rearing of Amazonian parrots in the Atacama Desert.

ABSTRACT: The feathers of tropical birds were one of the most significant symbols of economic, social, and sacred status in the pre-Columbian Americas. In the Andes, finely produced clothing and textiles containing multicolored feathers of tropical parrots materialized power, prestige, and distinction and were particularly prized by political and religious elites. Here we report 27 complete or partial remains of macaws and amazon parrots from five archaeological sites in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile to improve our understanding of their taxonomic identity, chronology, cultural context, and mechanisms of acquisition. We conducted a multiproxy archaeometric study that included zooarchaeological analysis, isotopic dietary reconstruction, accelerated mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating, and pal

SUBMITTER: Capriles JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8053920 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature