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Dryad

Precolumbian 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 political status in the pre-Columbian Americas. In the Andes, finely produced clothing and textiles containing multicolored feathers of tropical parrots materialized power, prestige, distinction, and were particularly appreciated 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 mutiproxy archaeometric study that included zooarchaeological analysis, carbon and nitrogen stable isotopic dietary reconstruction, AMS radiocarbon dating, and paleogenomic analysis. The results reveal that during the Late Intermediate Period (1150-1450 CE) people in this region acquired Scarlet Macaws (Ara macao) and at least five additional tropical parrot species through vast exchange networks that extended over 500 km towards the Amazonian tropical lowlands. Stable isotopes indicate that Atacama aviculturalists sustained these birds on diets rich in marine-bird-guano-fertilized maize-based foods. The captive rearing of these colorful, exotic, and charismatic birds served to unambiguously signal relational wealth in a context of emergent intercommunity competition.