Identifying Parrots, Songbirds, and Toucans with New Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) Markers

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeological and historical evidence has demonstrated the sociopolitical, economic, and ritual significance of parrots, songbirds, and toucans in precontact Americas. In Mesoamerica, these birds, along with their plumages and their capabilities to sing and mimic sounds, were highly valued. However, taxonomic identification of avian fauna can be challenging with traditional zooarchaeological methods, especially of non-subsistence species. While development of Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) enabled accessible taxonomic identification of morphologically similar species and fragmentary remains for mammals and fish, biomarkers for birds, particularly non-subsistence species, remain underdeveloped. We conducted ZooMS analysis on modern reference specimens of parrots, songbirds, and toucans from the Americas, successfully identifying potential biomarkers at order, suborder, family, and subfamily levels. We then use these markers and existing data from several archaeological sites to determine if low abundance avian species represent birds potentially exploited for plumage or song. Our novel ZooMS markers demonstrate how underrepresented American avian taxa can be identified and enable further explorations of nuanced research questions on non-subsistence birds in past societies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39363.0