Precolumbian Transregional Captive Rearing of Amazonian Parrots in the Atacama Desert

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. The archaeogenomic component of our study was designed to examine phylogenetic relationships between the Atacama macaws, improve our taxonomic identifications based on morphological characters, and potentially reveal some of the management strategies involved in the capture and circulation of these birds.