[Aztlan] Meleagris gallapavo (turkey)

[Elaine Day Schele]

History of the Domestication of Turkeys


By K. Kris <http://archaeology.about.com/mbiopage.htm>  Hirst, About.com

The turkey (Meleagris gallapavo) was definitely domesticated in the New
World, but its specific origins are somewhat problematic. Archaeological
specimens of wild turkey have been found in North America that date to the
Pleistocene, and turkeys were emblematic of many Woodland tribes in North
America as seen at sites such as Mississippian Etowah
<http://archaeology.about.com/od/eterms/g/etowah.htm> . The earliest signs
of domestication found to date appear in Maya sites such as Cobá
<http://archaeology.about.com/od/cterms/qt/coba.htm>  beginning about 100
BC-100 AD.


Turkey Species


The wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is indigenous to much of the eastern
and southwestern US, northern Mexico and southeastern Canada. Six subspecies
are recognized by biologists: eastern (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris),
Florida (M. g. osceola), Rio Grande (M.g. intermedia), Merriam's (M.g.
merriami), Gould's (M.g. mexicana), and southern Mexican (M.g. gallopavo).
The differences among them are primarily habitat, but there are minor
differences in body size and plumage coloration. 

The ocellated turkey (Agriocharis ocellata or Meleagris ocellata) is
considerably different in size and coloration and thought by some a separate
species entirely. It is native to the Yucatán peninsula of Mexico and,
interestingly enough, is today often found wandering in Maya ruins such as
Tikal <http://archaeology.about.com/od/tterms/g/tikal.htm> . The ocellated
turkey is more resistant to domestication, but was among the turkeys kept in
pens by the Aztecs as described by the Spanish. 

Turkeys were used by precolumbian North American societies for meat and egg
consumption, and their feathers were prized for decorative objects and
clothing. The hollow long bones of turkeys were also adapted for use as
musical instruments and bone tools. 


Turkey Domestication


At the time of the Spanish colonization, there were domesticated turkeys
both in Mexico among the Aztecs, and in the pueblo
<http://archaeology.about.com/od/pterms/g/pueblo.htm>  societies of the
American southwest. Evidence suggests that the turkeys from the southwest
were actually imported from Mexico about AD 300, and perhaps re-domesticated
in the southwest about 1100 AD when turkey husbandry really took off. Wild
turkeys were found by the European colonists throughout the eastern
woodlands. Variations in coloration were noted in the 16th century, and many
turkeys were carted back to Europe. 

Archaeological evidence for turkey domestication accepted by scholars
includes the presence of turkeys outside of their original habitats, the
construction of pens, turkey burials, turkey demography
<http://archaeology.about.com/od/domestications/qt/demography.htm>
including juveniles, healed long bone fractures, and the presence of
quantities of eggshell. Recent work using patterned calcium absorption in
eggshell to pick out shell which came from hatched eggs has added another
possible route of investigation. 


Sources


Buss, Edward G. 1989 Genetics <http://dx.doi.org/10.1079/WPS19890003>  of
turkeys: Origin and development. World's Poultry Science Journal 45:27-52. 

Beacham, E. B. and Stephen R. Durand 2007 Eggshell and the
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2006.11.015>  archaeological record: new
insights into turkey husbandry in the American Southwest. Journal of
Archaeological Science 34(10):1610-1621. 

Mock, K. E., et al. 2002 Genetic variation
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-294X.2002.01467.x>  across the historical
range of the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo). Molecular Ecology
11:643–657.

Elaine Day Schele

Maya Meetings Volunteer Coordinator

PhD Student

University of Texas 

Latin American Studies

eschele at austin.rr.com

http://www.utmaya.org/

 <http://www.myspace.com/hixwitzutmayameeting>
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