August 29, 1980

Dear Mr Plant:

I am quite interested in the ancestry and origin of the domestic chicken, particularly its introduction into the Western Hemisphere.

I have just returned from a rather extensive trip to China where I was pursuing the earliest domestic dogs that I could find. While going through the bone collections, I did note those of chickens. There were considerable elements of the chicken recovered from the Neolithic site of Pan-p’o near Sian in North China.

The earliest chickens, recorded from the Western Hemisphere, are from South America. They were brought there by the Spanish about 1519. There are no pre-Columbian chicken bones from the Western Hemisphere. Some years ago I consulted two avian palaeontologists, Drs Pierce Brodkorb and Alexander Wetmore (now deceased). They both agreed that until chicken bones are recovered from an early, dated, archaeological site we cannot assume that they were here in prehistoric times.

I would say from your letter, that you are going into the study of chicken origins rather thoroughly. Therefore, please keep me informed of your success relating to whether there are one or several races that may have contributed to the domestic bird. If you wish I can dig out a bibliography of papers and volumes relating to this study. I haven’t done so as it appears that you are already aware of most of the literature.

Please keep me informed of your study. If I can be of help, drop me a line.

Sincerely,

Stanley .J.Olsen
Professor
Zooarchaeologist