Kristina Killgrove over at Forbes has a really fascinating story about the potential early domestication of turkeys in Tennessee. And by early, she means long before the pilgrims. Archaeologists have found turkey remains dating back to 1250-1450:
Based on post-contact historical records and on archaeological findings of artifacts like turkey-bone beads and turkey-leg spurs, the importance of these animals is clear. They were being used not just for food, but also for ritual purposes and for ornamentation. Adult male tom turkey feathers were especially prized, as they can be iridescent red, purple, green, copper, bronze and gold, while the female hen’s feathers are dull brown and gray.
Peres and Ledford looked at all the turkey bones from the domestic context at the Fewkes site. In a normal turkey population, there are more hens than toms, Peres notes. A population of more adult males than females, then, could mean “preferential targeting of large males as sources of meat and/or feathers,” according to the article. While there were both toms and hens at the site, the hens that were killed were, by and large, the non-egg-laying variety. And far more male turkeys were killed.
The Fewkes site, for those of you not up on your archaeological sites, is down in Brentwood near Crockett Park. The site contains five mounds and numerous burials and has been excavated a number of times. It’s kind of remarkable that there’s still such good information to find at the site, but I think that just goes to show that archaeologists from different eras are looking for different things.
The implications of this turkey stuff are pretty interesting. Sure, people could have been hunting the turkeys, but the size of the toms and the fact that there are more toms than hens suggests that these were domesticated birds. In other words, this suggests the pre-contact inhabitants of Brentwood had livestock. We might call them farmers. There’s other evidence of farming south of Nashville, so that’s not too far a stretch. And the turkeys did seem to serve some ritual purposes. These may be our first glimpses into a better understanding of the religious lives of the people who lived here then.
So, when we all sit down for turkey on Thursday, we’re just keeping up a lengthy local tradition.
