TY - JOUR
T1 - Investigating the global dispersal of chickens in prehistory using ancient mitochondrial dna signatures
AU - Storey, Alice A
AU - Athens, J. Stephen
AU - Bryant, David
AU - Carson, Michael
AU - Emery, Kitty
AU - deFrance, Susan
AU - Higham, Charles
AU - Huynen, Leon
AU - Intoh, Michiko
AU - Jones, Sharyn
AU - Kirch, Patrick
AU - Ladefoged, Thegn
AU - McCoy, Patrick
AU - Morales-Muniz, Arturo
AU - Quiroz, Daniel
AU - Reitz, Elizabeth
AU - Robins, Judith
AU - Walter, Richard
AU - Matisoo-Smith, Elizabeth
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Data from morphology, linguistics, history, and archaeology have all been used to trace the dispersal of chickens from Asian
domestication centers to their current global distribution. Each provides a unique perspective which can aid in the
reconstruction of prehistory. This study expands on previous investigations by adding a temporal component from ancient
DNA and, in some cases, direct dating of bones of individual chickens from a variety of sites in Europe, the Pacific, and the
Americas. The results from the ancient DNA analyses of forty-eight archaeologically derived chicken bones provide support
for archaeological hypotheses about the prehistoric human transport of chickens. Haplogroup E mtDNA signatures have
been amplified from directly dated samples originating in Europe at 1000 B.P. and in the Pacific at 3000 B.P. indicating
multiple prehistoric dispersals from a single Asian centre. These two dispersal pathways converged in the Americas where
chickens were introduced both by Polynesians and later by Europeans. The results of this study also highlight the
inappropriate application of the small stretch of D-loop, traditionally amplified for use in phylogenetic studies, to
understanding discrete episodes of chicken translocation in the past. The results of this study lead to the proposal of four
hypotheses which will require further scrutiny and rigorous future testing.
AB - Data from morphology, linguistics, history, and archaeology have all been used to trace the dispersal of chickens from Asian
domestication centers to their current global distribution. Each provides a unique perspective which can aid in the
reconstruction of prehistory. This study expands on previous investigations by adding a temporal component from ancient
DNA and, in some cases, direct dating of bones of individual chickens from a variety of sites in Europe, the Pacific, and the
Americas. The results from the ancient DNA analyses of forty-eight archaeologically derived chicken bones provide support
for archaeological hypotheses about the prehistoric human transport of chickens. Haplogroup E mtDNA signatures have
been amplified from directly dated samples originating in Europe at 1000 B.P. and in the Pacific at 3000 B.P. indicating
multiple prehistoric dispersals from a single Asian centre. These two dispersal pathways converged in the Americas where
chickens were introduced both by Polynesians and later by Europeans. The results of this study also highlight the
inappropriate application of the small stretch of D-loop, traditionally amplified for use in phylogenetic studies, to
understanding discrete episodes of chicken translocation in the past. The results of this study lead to the proposal of four
hypotheses which will require further scrutiny and rigorous future testing.
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0039171
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0039171
M3 - Article
VL - 7
SP - -
JO - PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science)
JF - PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science)
IS - 7
ER -