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

The feathers of tropical birds were one of the most significant symbols of economic, social, and sacred status in the preColumbian 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 paleogenomic analysis. The results reveal that during the Late Intermediate Period (1100 to 1450 CE), Atacama oasis communities acquired scarlet macaws (Ara macao) and at least five additional translocated parrot species through vast exchange networks that extended more than 500 km toward the eastern Amazonian tropics. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes indicate that Atacama aviculturalists sustained these birds on diets rich in marine bird guano-fertilized maizebased foods. The captive rearing of these colorful, exotic, and charismatic birds served to unambiguously signal relational wealth in a context of emergent intercommunity competition.

Automated summary

Recent archaeological findings in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile reveal that oasis communities acquired scarlet macaws and other parrot species through extensive exchange networks during the Late Intermediate Period. Isotopic analysis shows that these birds were sustained on maize-based diets enriched with marine bird guano fertilizers. The captive rearing of these colorful birds served as a clear signal of wealth in a context of emerging intercommunity competition.