Mummified parrots point to trade in the ancient Atacama desert
Date:
March 29, 2021
Source:
Penn State
Ancient Egyptians mummified cats, dogs, ibises and other animals, but closer to home in the South American Atacama desert, parrot mummies reveal that between 1100 and 1450 CE, trade from other areas brought parrots and macaws to oasis communities, according to an international and interdisciplinary team.
"Feathers are valued across the Americas and we see them in high-status burials," said José M. Capriles, assistant professor of anthropology, Penn State. "We don't know how the feathers got there, the routes they took or the network."
Parrots and macaws are not native to the Atacama, which is in northern Chile and is the driest desert in the world, but archaeologists have found feathers in burial context and preserved in leather boxes or other protective material, and they have also found mummified birds -- parrots and macaws -- at archaeological sites.
"The fact that live birds made their way across the more-than-10,000-foot-high Andes is amazing," said Capriles. "They had to be transported across huge steppes, cold weather and difficult terrain to the Atacama. And they had to be kept alive."
More:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210329153328.htm