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Origins of an Anasazi Scarlet Macaw Feather Artifact

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Nancy Borson ,
Frances Berdan ,
Edward Stark ,
Jack States  and
Peter J. Wettstein
Nancy Borson
Affiliation:
Department of Immunology, Mayo Foundation, Rochester, MN 55905
Frances Berdan
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, California State University, San Bernardino, CA 92407
Edward Stark
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, California State University, San Bernardino, CA 92407
Jack States
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011
Peter J. Wettstein
Affiliation:
Departments of Surgery and Immunology, Mayo Foundation, Rochester, MN 55905
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Abstract

An artifact ascribed to the Anasazi culture (dated here to 920 ± 35 B.P.) is unique in its integrity, construction technique, style, and materials, including multiple yucca ropes with attached adult scarlet macaw feathers joined to a Sciurus aberti (tassel-eared squirrel) pelt and hide straps. We applied methods from anthropology and molecular biology to ascertain the origins of materials and manufacturing technique. The cytochrome b gene from the ancient DNA of the pelt was sequenced in its entirety. This gene was unique as defined by new nucleotide substitutions that distinguished it from the other S. aberti alleles. Phylogenetic trees constructed by both neighbor-joining and maximum parsimony methods are consistent with this unique allele being most closely related to genes from two extant American Southwest S. aberti subspecies and more distantly related to Mexican S. aberti genes. Our observations support the conclusion that the entire artifact was constructed in the American Southwest using native materials, including the squirrel pelt and scarlet macaw feathers. This contradicts a prior hypothesis that the feather rope component was assembled before being traded north from Mexico.

Résumé

Résumé

En este trabajo se describe un utensillo ornamental perteneciente a la cultura Anasazi, datado en 920 ± 35 B.P. Este omamento es único en su integridad, estilo, técnica y materiales de construcción, que incluyen cuerdas múltiples de yuca con plumas escarlata de papagayo adulto, unidas a una pieza de piel de ardilla de la especie Sciurus aberti. Métodos de biología molecular y antropologia se aplicaron para establecer el origen de los materiales y la técnica de manufactura. El ADN proveniente de la piel de S. aberti permitió secuenciar completamente el gen del citocroma b. Este gen se caracterizó como único en base a la sustitución de nucleótidos que lo distinguen de otros álelos de S. aberti. Los árboles filogenéticos construídos en base a métodos de relaciones parenterales y parsimonia máxima permiten concluir la existencia de una relación más cercana entre este alelo y los genes de dos subespecies de S. aberti del sudoeste americano, que con genes de las subespecies mexicanas. Nuestras observaciones permiten concluir que este utensillo se construyó completamente en el sudoeste americano, con materiales autóctonos y plumas de papagayo comercializadas desde México. Esta conclusión contradice la hipótesis previa que apoya el ensamblado de las cuerdas de plumas en México con anterioridad a su intercambio comercial.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 63 , Issue 1 , January 1998 , pp. 131 - 142
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1998

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