An Early Military Macaw from Cueva de Avendaños, Chihuahua

Abstract

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.