Turkeys Were Part of Native American Life Centuries before First Thanksgiving

According to a new study by Florida State University researchers, Native Americans were keeping eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) as early as 1200 – 1400 CE.

A wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo). Image credit: Vince Pahkala / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Researchers knew that turkeys had been a part of Native American life long before the first Thanksgiving in 1621. Their feathers were used on arrows, in headdresses and clothing. The meat was used for food. Their bones were used for tools including scratchers used in ritual ceremonies.

There are even representations of turkeys in artifacts from the time. An intricately engraved marine shell pendant found at a site in central Tennessee shows two turkeys facing each other.

But the new research, reported in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, indicates turkeys were more than just a casual part of life for Native Americans of that era.

The authors came across a few curiosities as they examined skeletons of turkeys from archaeological sites in Tennessee that led them to believe that Native Americans were actively managing these fowls.

For one, the groupings researchers worked on had more male turkeys than a typical flock.

“In a typical flock of turkeys, there are usually more females. But in the flock they examined, they found more remains of males. That would only happen if it were designed that way,” said lead author Dr. Tanya Peres, from the Department of Anthropology at Florida State University.

“It appears Native Americans were favoring males for their bones for tools.”

“And they certainly would have favored males for their feathers. They tend to be much brighter and more colorful than the female species. Female feathers tend to be a dull grey or brown to blend in to their surroundings since they have to sit on the nest and protect the chicks.”

The other immediately noticeable trait that stood out to the team was that these ancient American gobblers were big boned — much larger than today’s average wild turkey. That could be the result of them being purposefully cared for or fed diets of corn.

“The skeletons of the archaeological turkeys we examined were quite robust in comparison to the skeletons of our modern comparatives,” said co-author Kelly Ledford, a graduate student at Florida State University.

“The domestication process typically results in an overall increase in the size of the animal so we knew this was a research avenue we needed to explore.”

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Tanya M. Peres Kelly L. Ledford. Archaeological correlates of population management of the eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) with a case study from the American South. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, published online November 21, 2016; doi: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.11.014