Chickens Came First, And Earlier

100 years before the Spanish began their invasion/exploration of the Americas, chickens made it to Chile from Polynesia. While chickens have been known to cross the road, few of them, if any, swim. So they must have been brought to the wide open free-range Americas by people in boats.

According to a report from Live Science.com, " the chicken bones were discovered at an archaeological site called El Arenal, on the south coast of Chile, alongside other materials belonging to the indigenous population. 

“We had the chicken bone directly dated by radio carbon. The calibrated date was clearly prior to 1492,” ( Lisa) Matisoo-Smith  (of the University of Auckland, NZ, ) told LiveScience, noting that it could have ranged anywhere from 1304 to 1424. “This also fits with the other dates obtained from the site (on other materials), and it fits with the cultural period of the site.”

The American-native sweet potato, long a staple in Polynesia and Melanesia,was most likely picked up by these early island travelers and carried back home. The chickens stayed behind to delight the locals who began preparing Chilean Chicken, a dish that introduced American-born chiles and tomatoes to the Polynesian fowl.

Above: University of Auckland Anthropologist Dr. Elizabeth Matisoo-Smith  and friends

( Thanks to JOHN SELKIRK/Dominion Post for photo at http://www.stuff.co.nz/bayofplenty/4085731a11.html)

Comments

[Win]

A swimming chicken, now that would be a sight. Next, maybe, they'll find evidence that pigs proceeded the Spanish too?

[Kelly Mahoney]

I wonder how different the chicken recipes were back then and if they've survived the generations.

[Dan]

It's really not that surprising, there's been evidence around for a long time that there were visits from Asian countries to the Americas, well before Colombus. Though much of it isn't "proven" in the sense of as much documented history as there is from Spain and Portugal, there's enough scattered evidence, bits and pieces, to show that the Chinese Star Fleet visited the Americas in the early 1400s, multiple times.