Chickens Discovered America First

Polynesians, over 100 years before Columbus, crossed the Pacific Ocean and reached western Chile, where they left behind chicken bones.

Of the many pre-Columbian explorers said to have reached the New World before the famous explorer, the most surprising are chickens.

According to recent DNA tests of chicken bones found in western Chile, the bones were left there sometime between the years 1304 and 1424, and are of a variety found only in Polynesia-- most likely Easter Island or some other east Polynesian island.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Polynesia, it is likely that chicken descendants of those first chickens to cross to the New World are standing a little taller and prouder.