Pre-Inca Network Traded Live Parrots Across Andes

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of a sophisticated pre-Inca trade network that transported live Amazonian parrots across the Andes to Peru's Pacific coast more than 1,000 years ago, according to a study published this week in the journal Nature Communications. The findings, based on feathers recovered from an elite tomb at the ancient site of Pachacamac, reveal that birds native to the distant rainforest were captured in the wild, carried over rugged mountain passes, and kept in captivity long enough to grow new plumage for use in rituals and burials.

The feathers, discovered during excavations in the early 2000s at Pachacamac, a major religious center inhabited since around 200 BCE, belonged to members of the Ychsma culture, which thrived on Peru's central coast from approximately 1000 to 1470 CE. This society predated the Inca Empire's expansion in the late 15th century. Among 35 funerary bundles unearthed from a stone-lined tomb, researchers identified colorful ornaments made from feathers attached to false heads on mummy bundles, symbols of elite status adorned with vibrant reds, blues, and yellows unavailable in the arid coastal desert.