Source Count: 13 | Weighted Score: 38 | Source Confidence: [4/5] | Primary Tier: 2 | Last Updated: April 10, 2026
Keywords: chicken, Gallus gallus, pre-Columbian, Polynesian, South America, Araucana, El Arenal, Storey, Thomson, DNA, trans-Pacific, mtDNA, haplogroup, diffusion
Category Tags: pre-columbian-contact, trans-pacific, chicken-dna, polynesia, south-america, archaeogenetics, diffusion
Cross-References: F_1_22 — Peopling Americas · A_4_34 — Polynesian Creation Myths · F_1_24 — Phoenician Americas Contact

QUICK SUMMARY

The question of whether chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) were present in South America before the arrival of Europeans in 1492 is a seemingly mundane zoological problem with profound implications for the history of pre-Columbian trans-Pacific contact between Polynesia and South America. The domestic chicken was domesticated from the Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) in Southeast Asia approximately 8,000 years ago and spread throughout Asia, the Pacific, and eventually to Europe and Africa. Chickens are not native to the Americas and did not arrive via the Bering land bridge — they are tropical domesticates that were not part of the Pleistocene fauna. The standard historical account holds that chickens were introduced to the Americas by Spanish and Portuguese colonizers beginning in the late 15th century. However, a provocative 2007 study by Alice Storey (University of Auckland) and colleagues, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reported the recovery of ancient chicken bones from the archaeological site of El Arenal-1 on the coast of south-central Chile, radiocarbon-dated to approximately 1321–1407 CE — predating the European arrival by at least 85 years. KEY FINDING Mitochondrial DNA extracted from the El Arenal chicken bones showed a haplogroup E sequence identical to sequences from pre-European Polynesian chickens from Tonga and Samoa, but different from European chicken lineages — suggesting that Polynesian voyagers delivered chickens to South America during the pre-Columbian period. This was hailed as the first genetic evidence for pre-Columbian Polynesian-South American contact. However, the claim was challenged by Jaime Gongora and colleagues (2008) and more extensively by Vicki Thomson and colleagues (2014), who argued that the El Arenal sequences fell within a haplogroup shared by both Polynesian and European chickens, making it impossible to distinguish a Polynesian introduction from early European introduction or contamination. The debate intersects with other evidence for pre-Columbian trans-Pacific contact — most notably the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), a South American domestic plant that was indisputably present in Polynesia before European contact (documented by Cook's voyages in 1769), and the linguistic similarity between the Quechua word kumara and the Polynesian word kūmara for sweet potato.

1. VERIFIED CLAIMS (Tier 1 — Peer-Reviewed / Established)

1.1 Chicken Domestication and Dispersal

• The domestic chicken was domesticated from Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) in Southeast Asia, with the earliest evidence from sites in northern China and mainland Southeast Asia dating to approximately 6000–8000 BCE
• Chickens spread through Polynesia during the Austronesian/Polynesian expansion, arriving in Hawai'i, Easter Island, and New Zealand by approximately 1000–1300 CE
• Chickens arrived in Europe via the Middle East and Mediterranean, reaching Western Europe by approximately 800–300 BCE
• Chickens are not native to the Americas — no wild galliform species in the Americas is closely related to the domestic chicken

1.2 The Sweet Potato Evidence

• The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is unambiguously a South American domesticate (domesticated in Peru/Ecuador by approximately 3000 BCE)
• Sweet potatoes were present in Polynesia before European contact — confirmed by archaeological carbonized remains from the Cook Islands dated to approximately 1000–1100 CE (Hather and Kirch, Science, 1991)
• The Polynesian word for sweet potato (kūmara) closely resembles the Quechua word (kumara/kumar)
• This is the strongest single piece of evidence for pre-Columbian Polynesian-South American contact and is accepted by the majority of researchers

1.3 Genetic Evidence for Polynesian-American Contact

• A 2014 genome-wide study by Moreno-Mayar et al. found evidence of Polynesian genetic admixture in the Rapa Nui (Easter Island) population, though timing is debated
• A larger 2020 study by Ioannidis et al. (Nature, 2020) found clear Polynesian genetic signatures in coastal South American Indigenous populations (Zenú people of Colombia), dated by admixture timing analysis to approximately 1150–1230 CE — predating European contact and consistent with Polynesian voyaging

2. CREDIBLE CLAIMS (Tier 2 — Academic / Debated but Supported)

2.1 The El Arenal Chicken Bones

• Storey et al. (PNAS, 2007): Recovered chicken bones from El Arenal-1 (Arauco Peninsula, south-central Chile); radiocarbon-dated to 1321–1407 cal CE (pre-Columbian)
• mtDNA analysis: Sequence matched haplogroup E lineages found in Polynesian chickens from Tonga and Samoa
• Storey concluded this represented a Polynesian introduction of chickens to South America

2.2 The Thomson et al. Rebuttal

• Thomson et al. (PNAS, 2014): Reanalyzed the El Arenal sequences and a much larger dataset of ancient and modern chicken mtDNA
• Found that the El Arenal sequences fell within a broadly distributed haplogroup E clade shared by Polynesian, Indian Subcontinent, and European chickens — meaning European introduction could not be excluded
• Concluded that "the molecular evidence for a pre-Columbian, Polynesian introduction of chickens to South America remains equivocal"
• Storey et al. (2012, 2013) defended their interpretation, noting that the radiocarbon dates unambiguously predate European arrival in Chile

2.3 The Araucana Chicken

• The Araucana is a distinctive South American chicken breed (from the Araucanía region of Chile) that lays blue/green eggs — a trait controlled by a retroviral insertion, EAV-HP
• Researchers argued the Araucana's unique characteristics suggest an independent (non-European) origin — possibly Polynesian or even Chinese
• KEY FINDING However, Wragg et al. (PLoS ONE, 2012) showed that the blue-egg gene in Araucanas is distinct from the blue-egg gene in Chinese chickens (Dongxiang/Lushi breeds), suggesting independent mutation rather than shared ancestry

3. SPECULATIVE CLAIMS (Tier 3 — Possible but Unverified)

3.1 Chinese Chicken Introduction

• Authors have proposed that chickens may have been introduced to the Americas by Chinese voyagers (linked to the broader Gavin Menzies hypothesis of a 1421 Chinese fleet reaching the Americas)
• No genetic or archaeological evidence supports Chinese-specific chicken introduction to the Americas

4. DUBIOUS CLAIMS (Tier 4 — No Credible Source / Contradicted by Evidence)

4.1 "Chickens Are Native to the Americas"

• DEBUNKED No wild galliform species native to the Americas is closely related to Gallus gallus. The turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is the only large gallinaceous bird domesticated in the Americas and is not closely related to chickens

Counter-Arguments & Criticisms

Ancient DNA Contamination

• Working with ancient DNA from chicken bones is technically challenging — contamination from modern DNA is a persistent concern, and the short mtDNA sequences used in early studies may not provide sufficient phylogenetic resolution to distinguish Polynesian from European lineages
• Whole-genome sequencing of ancient chicken bones may eventually resolve the question but has not yet been accomplished for the El Arenal specimens

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Storey, Alice A., et al | 2007 | "Radiocarbon and DNA Evidence for a Pre-Columbian Introduction of Polynesian Chickens to Chile" | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | ∅ | 104.25::10335–10339 | ∅ | ∅ | doi:10.1073/pnas.0703993104 | ∅ | ∅ | ∅
2. Thomson, Vicki A., et al | 2014 | "Using Ancient DNA to Study the Origins and Dispersal of Ancestral Polynesian Chickens Across the Pacific" | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | ∅ | 111.13::4826–4831 | ∅ | ∅ | doi:10.1073/pnas.1320412111 | ∅ | ∅ | ∅
3. Gongora, Jaime, et al | 2008 | "Indo-European and Asian Origins for Chilean and Pacific Chickens Revealed by mtDNA" | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | ∅ | 105.30::10308–10313 | ∅ | ∅ | doi:10.1073/pnas.0807512105 | ∅ | ∅ | ∅
4. Ioannidis, Alexander G., et al | 2020 | "Native American Gene Flow into Polynesia Predating Easter Island Settlement" | Nature | ∅ | 583.7817::572–577 | ∅ | ∅ | doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2487-2 | ∅ | ∅ | ∅
5. Hather, Jon; Patrick Vinton Kirch | 1991 | "Prehistoric Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas) from Mangaia Island, Central Polynesia" | Antiquity | ∅ | 65.249::887–893 | ∅ | ∅ | doi:10.1017/s0003598x00080613 | ∅ | ∅ | ∅
6. Storey, Alice A., et al. e39171 | 2012 | "Investigating the Global Dispersal of Chickens in Prehistory Using Ancient Mitochondrial DNA Signatures" | PLoS ONE | ∅ | 7.7:: | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅
7. Wragg, David, et al. e71393 | 2013 | "Endogenous Retrovirus EAV-HP Linked to Blue Egg Phenotype in Mapuche Fowl" | PLoS ONE | ∅ | 8.8:: | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅
8. Jones, Terry L., et al | 2011 | "Polynesians in America: Pre-Columbian Contacts with the New World" | Current Anthropology | ∅ | 52.6::767–790 | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅
9. Fitzpatrick, Scott M.; Richard Callaghan | 2009 | "Examining Dispersal Mechanisms for the Translocation of Chicken (Gallus gallus) from Polynesia to South America" | Journal of Archaeological Science | ∅ | 36.2::214–223 | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅
10. Kirch, Patrick Vinton | 2000 | ∅ | On the Road of the Winds: An Archaeological History of the Pacific Islands Before European Contact | ∅ | ∅ | Berkeley: University of California Press | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅
11. Matisoo-Smith, Elizabeth; José Miguel Ramírez | 2010 | "Human Skeletal Evidence of Polynesian Presence in South America?" | Current Anthropology | ∅ | 51.5::653–663 | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅
12. Montenegro, Álvaro, et al | 2008 | "Modeling the Prehistoric Arrival of the Sweet Potato in Polynesia" | Journal of Archaeological Science | ∅ | 35.2::355–367 | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅
13. Lawler, Andrew | 2014 | "Sailing Chickens of the Pacific" | Science | ∅ | 344.6185::684 | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅

CROSS-REFERENCE INDEX

Generated from V4 expansion plan. Last Updated: April 10, 2026