The Kiva (Tucson, Ariz.), 2021-01, Vol.87 (1), p.1-22
2021
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Details
- Autor(en) / Beteiligte
- Titel
- An Early Military Macaw from Cueva de Avendaños, Chihuahua
- Ist Teil von
- The Kiva (Tucson, Ariz.), 2021-01, Vol.87 (1), p.1-22
- Ort / Verlag
- Routledge
- Erscheinungsjahr
- 2021
- Quelle
- Taylor & Francis
- Beschreibungen/Notizen
- During a 2016 archaeological salvage project in the municipality of San Francisco de Borja, Chihuahua, the mummified head of an adult military macaw (Ara militaris) was recorded from a rock shelter. Because of their aesthetic beauty and colorful plumage, macaws occupied an important place within the collective imagination of the pre-Hispanic communities. Macaws and macaw feathers also were important ritual and social symbols, often used in Pueblo ceremonial regalia. Radiocarbon analysis of the macaw has produced a Late Archaic calibrated date range of 150 BC - AD 20, making this the earliest macaw by several hundred years in northwestern Mexico or the southwestern United States. Stable carbon isotopes in this macaw were comparable to maize-fed domesticated turkeys from the Southwest suggesting some form of animal husbandry by this time. Our discussion includes comparison with the handful of other military macaws from pre-Hispanic contexts in northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States.