Scientists Discover Vast Ancient Trade Network That Rewrites History with Parrot DNA
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· Mar 10, 2026 at 3:21 PM
“I think we often underestimate their capabilities,” said one of the researchers who uncovered a pre-Inca trade route linking the Amazon rainforest to the Pacific coast.
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Colorful feathers found in an ancient tomb on Peru’s coast once belonged to parrots captured deep in the Amazon rainforest, reports a study published on Tuesday in Nature Communications. The discovery provides direct evidence of long-distance trade networks that flourished across the Andes centuries before the expansion of the Inca Empire in 1470, proving that these cultures developed sophisticated economic systems capable of transporting live tropical birds across treacherous environments.
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Text extracted automatically; images, tables and formatting may be missing. Original: https://www.404media.co/scientists-discover-vast-ancient-trade-network-that-rewrites-history-with-parrot-dna/