title: Origin and timing of New Zealand's earliest domestic chickens: Polynesian commensals or European introductions?
abstract: Human settlers transported chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) to most East Polynesian archipelagos between AD 1000 and 1300; however, it has long been assumed that New Zealand was an exception. Despite the fact that chicken bones have been recovered from localities of early archaeological middens in New Zealand, their age and genetic relationships have never been critically assessed. Here, we test the assumption that chickens were not introduced to New Zealand during prehistory through ancient DNA and radiocarbon analyses of chicken bones from sites of Māori middens containing prehistoric material. The chickens belong to the widespread mitochondrial control region haplogroup E. Radiocarbon dating reveals that the bones are not prehistoric, but are still the earliest chicken remains known from New Zealand. Two of the bones pre-date permanent European settlement (ca1803s onwards) but overlap with the arrival of James Cook's second voyage (1773-1774), and, therefore, they are likely to be chickens, or progeny thereof, liberated during that voyage. Our results support the idea that chickens were first introduced to New Zealand by Europeans, and provide new insights into Māori uptake and integration of resources introduced during the early post-European period.
authors.affiliation: Long-term Ecology Lab , Landcare Research , PO Box 69040, Lincoln 7640 , New Zealand.
authors.forename: Jamie R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences , University of Adelaide , North Terrace Campus, South Australia 5005 , Australia.
authors.forename: Michael J B
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Herrera
authors.affiliation: Canterbury Museum , Rolleston Avenue, Christchurch 8013 , New Zealand.
authors.forename: R Paul
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7510-6980
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Scofield
authors.affiliation: Long-term Ecology Lab, Landcare Research, PO Box 69040, Lincoln 7640, New Zealand; School of Environment, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Janet M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Wilmshurst
keywords: European-contact; Pacific; archaeology; commensal species; prehistory; radiocarbon dating