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Turkey: Domestication

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Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology

The turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is a member of the order Galliformes, which include chickens, guineas, peafowls, and other terrestrial birds. Within the family Meleagrididae, there is one living genus, Meleagris, with two living species: Meleagris gallopavo, the North American turkey (or common turkey), and M. ocellata, the smaller bodied and more brightly plumed ocellated turkey.

Five wild turkey subspecies currently occupy distinct territories in North and Central America (Fig. 1) (Dickson 1992; Schorger 1966): M. g. silvestris (Eastern wild turkey) inhabits the deciduous forest and oak savanna of the eastern half of the USA, M. g. osceola (Florida wild turkey) resides in evergreen and tropical areas of southern Florida, M. g. intermedia (Rio Grande wild turkey) ranges over the south central plains and northeastern Mexico, M. g. merriami (Merriam’s wild turkey) ranges within the montane woodlands of the Southwest USA, and M. g. mexicana(Gould’s wild turkey) occupies the pine-oak...

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References

  • Crawford, R.D. 1992. Introduction to Europe and the diffusion of domesticated turkeys from the Americas. Archivos de Zootecnia 41: 307–314.

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  • Dickson, J.G., ed. 1992. The wild turkey: Biology and management. Harrisburg: Stackpole Books.

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  • Driver, J.C. 2002. Faunal variation and change in the Northern San Juan region. In Seeking the center place: Archaeology and ancient communities in the Mesa Verde region, ed. M.D. Varien and R.H. Wilshusen, 143–160. Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press.

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  • Marsden, S.J. 1971. Turkey production, agriculture handbook no. 393. Washington, DC: Agriculture Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture.

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  • Munro, N.D. 2006. The role of turkey in the Southwest. In Handbook of North American Indians, volume 3: Environment, origins and populations, ed. W.C. Sturtevant, 463–469. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.

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  • Schorger, A.W. 1966. The wild turkey: Its history and domestication. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.

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  • Speller, C.F., B.M. Kemp, S.D. Wyatt, C. Monroe, W.D. Lipe, U.M. Arndt, and D.Y. Yang. 2010. Ancient mitochondrial DNA analysis reveals complexity of indigenous North American turkey domestication. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107: 2807–2812.

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  • Thornton, E.K., K.F. Emery, D.W. Steadman, C. Speller, R. Matheny, et al. 2012. Earliest Mexican Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) in the Maya region: Implications for pre-hispanic animal trade and the timing of turkey domestication. PLoS One 7 (8): e42630. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0042630.

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Further Reading

  • Breitburg, E. 1993. The evolution of turkey domestication in the greater Southwest and Mesoamerica. In Culture and contact: Charles C. Di Peso’s Gran Chichimeca, ed. A.I. Woosley and J.C. Ravesloot, 153–172. Albuquerque: The University of New Mexico Press.

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  • Marsden, S.J., and J.H. Martin. 1946. Turkey management. 4th ed. Danville: The Interstate.

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  • McKusick, C.R. 2001. Southwest birds of sacrifice. The Arizona Archaeologist 31: 1–198.

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  • Thornton, E., K.F. Emery, and C. Speller. 2016. Ancient Maya turkey husbandry: Testing theories through stable isotope analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 10: 584–595.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Camilla Speller

Authors
  1. Camilla Speller
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Correspondence to Camilla Speller .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Claire Smith

Section Editor information

  1. Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, UK

    Dorian Q. Fuller

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Speller, C. (2020). Turkey: Domestication. In: Smith, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30018-0_2219

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