Editing Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories (section)

=== Disputed evidence ===
==== Araucanian chickens ====
In 2007, evidence emerged which suggested the possibility of pre-Columbian contact between the [[Mapuche|Mapuche people]] (Araucanians) of south-central Chile and Polynesians. Bones of [[Araucana|Araucana chickens]] found at [[El Arenal, Chile|El Arenal]] site in the [[Araucanía (historic region)|Arauco Peninsula]], an area inhabited by Mapuche, support a pre-Columbian introduction of [[landrace]]s from the South Pacific islands to South America.<ref>{{Cite journal
| last1 = Storey | first1 = A. A.
| last2 = Ramirez | first2 = J. M.
| last3 = Quiroz | first3 = D.
| last4 = Burley | first4 = D. V.
| last5 = Addison | first5 = D. J.
| last6 = Walter | first6 = R.
| last7 = Anderson | first7 = A. J.
| last8 = Hunt | first8 = T. L.
| last9 = Athens | first9 = J. S.
| last10 = Huynen
| doi = 10.1073/pnas.0703993104 | first10 = L.
| last11 = Matisoo-Smith | first11 = E. A.
| title = Radiocarbon and DNA evidence for a pre-Columbian introduction of Polynesian chickens to Chile
| journal = [[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]]
| volume = 104
| issue = 25
| pages = 10335–10339
| year = 2007
| pmid = 17556540
| pmc =1965514
| bibcode = 2007PNAS..10410335S
| doi-access = free
}}</ref> The bones found in Chile were radiocarbon-dated to between 1304 and 1424, before the arrival of the Spanish. Chicken DNA sequences were matched to those of chickens in [[American Samoa]] and [[Tonga]], and found to be dissimilar to those of European chickens.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.livescience.com/history/070604_polynesian_chicken.html |title= Chicken Bones Suggest Polynesians Found Americas Before Columbus |journal=Live Science |date=June 4, 2007 |access-date=June 5, 2007 |last=Whipps |first=Heather }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.archaeology.org/0801/topten/chicken.html|title=Top 10 Discoveries of 2007 – Polynesian Chickens in Chile – Archaeology Magazine Archive|work=archaeology.org}}</ref>

However, this finding was challenged by a 2008 study which questioned its methodology and concluded that its conclusion is flawed, although the theory it posits may still be possible.<ref>{{Cite journal
| last1 = Gongora | first1 = J.
| last2 = Rawlence | first2 = N. J.
| last3 = Mobegi | first3 = V. A.
| last4 = Jianlin | first4 = H.
| last5 = Alcalde | first5 = J. A.
| last6 = Matus | first6 = J. T.
| last7 = Hanotte | first7 = O.
| last8 = Moran | first8 = C.
| last9 = Austin | first9 = J. J.
| last10 = Ulm | first10 = S.
| last11 = Anderson | first11 = A. J.
| last12 = Larson | first12 = G.
| last13 = Cooper | first13 = A.
| doi = 10.1073/pnas.0801991105
| title = Indo-European and Asian origins for Chilean and Pacific chickens revealed by mtDNA
| journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
| volume = 105
| issue = 30
| pages = 10308–10313
| year = 2008
| pmid = 18663216
| pmc =2492461
| bibcode = 2008PNAS..10510308G
| doi-access = free
}}</ref> Another study in 2014 reinforced that dismissal, and posited the crucial flaw in the initial research: "The analysis of ancient and modern specimens reveals a unique Polynesian genetic signature" and that "a previously reported connection between pre-European South America and Polynesian chickens most likely resulted from contamination with modern DNA, and that this issue is likely to confound ancient DNA studies involving haplogroup E chicken sequences."<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Thomson|first1=Vicki A|first2=Ophélie |last2=Lebrasseur |first3=Jeremy J. |last3=Austin |first4=Terry L. |last4=Hunt |first5=David A. |last5=Burney |first6=Tim |last6=Denham |first7=Nicolas J. |last7=Rawlence |first8=Jamie R. |last8=Wood |first9=Jaime |last9=Gongor |first10=Linus Girdland |last10=Flink |first11=Anna |last11=Linderholm |first12=Keith |last12=Dobney |first13=Greger |last13=Larson |first14=Alan |last14=Cooper |title=Using ancient DNA to study the origins and dispersal of ancestral Polynesian chickens across the Pacific |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|date=April 1, 2014 |volume=111 |issue=13 |pages=4826–4831 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1320412111 |pmid=24639505 |pmc=3977275 |bibcode=2014PNAS..111.4826T|doi-access=free}}</ref>

However, in a 2013 study, the original authors extended and elaborated their findings, concluding:<ref>{{cite journal |title=Polynesian Chickens in the New World: a detailed application of a commensal approach|journal=[[Archaeology in Oceania]] |year=2013 |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=101–119 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261656806 |doi=10.1002/arco.5007 |last1=Storey |first1=Alice A. |last2=Quiroz |first2=Daniel |last3=Beavan |first3=Nancy |last4=Matisoo-Smith |first4=Elizabeth }}</ref> 
{{blockquote|text=
This comprehensive approach demonstrates that the examination of modern chicken DNA sequences does not contribute to our understanding of the origins of Chile's earliest chickens. Interpretations based on poorly sourced and documented modern chicken populations, divorced from the archeological and historical evidence, do not withstand scrutiny. Instead, this expanded account will confirm the pre-Columbian age of the El Arenal remains and lend support to our original hypothesis that their appearance in South America is most likely due to Polynesian contact with the Americas in prehistory.
}}

A 2019 study of South American chickens "revealed an unknown genetic component that is mostly present in the Easter Island population that is also present in local chicken populations from the South American Pacific fringe".<ref name=gallinas2019>{{Cite journal |title=The Local South American Chicken Populations Are a Melting-Pot of Genomic Diversity |journal=[[Frontiers in Genetics]] |last1=Luzuriaga-Neira |first1=Agusto |last2=Pérez-Pardal |first2=Lucía |doi=10.3389/fgene.2019.01172 |year=2019 |last3=O’Rourke |first3=Sean M. |last4=Villacís-Rivas |first4=Gustavo |last5=Cueva-Castillo |first5=Freddy |last6=Escudero-Sánchez |first6=Galo |last7=Aguirre-Pabón |first7=Juan Carlos |last8=Ulloa-Núñez |first8=Amarilis |last9=Rubilar-Quezada |first9=Makarena |last10=Vallinoto |first10=Marcelo |last11=Miller |first11=Michael R.|last12=Beja-Pereira |first12=Albano|volume=10 |page=1172 |pmid=31803242 |pmc=6877731 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The Easter Island chicken's "genetic proximity with the SA continental gamefowl can be explained by the fact that both populations were not crossed with cosmopolitan breeds and therefore remain closer to the ancestral population that originated them. "<ref name=gallinas2019/> The genetic proximity might also "be indicative of a common origin of these two populations".<ref name=gallinas2019/>

==== California canoes ====
[[File:Chumash Tomol 'Elye'wun paddlers, CINMS.jpg|thumb|right|''{{'}}Elye'wun'', a reconstructed Chumash [[tomol]]]]
Researchers including Kathryn Klar and Terry Jones have proposed a theory of contact between [[Native Hawaiians|Hawaiians]] and the [[Chumash people]] of [[Southern California]] between 400 and 800 CE. The sewn-plank canoes crafted by the Chumash and neighboring [[Tongva people|Tongva]] are unique among the indigenous peoples of North America, but similar in design to larger canoes used by Polynesians and Melanesians for deep-sea voyages. ''[[Tomol|Tomolo'o]]'', the [[Chumash language|Chumash]] word for such a craft, may derive from {{lang|haw|tumula{{okina}}au/kumula{{okina}}au}}, the Hawaiian term for the logs from which shipwrights carve planks to be sewn into canoes.<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 June 2005 |title=Did ancient Polynesians visit California? Maybe so. |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/06/20/MNG9GDBBLG1.DTL |access-date=31 January 2022 |publisher=San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jones |first1=Terry L. |last2=Kathryn A. Klar |date=June 3, 2005 |title=Diffusionism Reconsidered: Linguistic and Archaeological Evidence for Prehistoric Polynesian Contact with Southern California |url=http://www.saa.org/publications/AmAntiq/70-3/Jones.html |url-status=dead |journal=American Antiquity |volume=70 |issue=3 |pages=457–484 |doi=10.2307/40035309 |jstor=40035309 |s2cid=161301055 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060927085144/http://www.saa.org/Publications/AmAntiq/70-3/Jones.html |archive-date=September 27, 2006 |access-date=March 6, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Adams |first1=James D. |last2=Cecilia Garcia |last3=Eric J. Lien |date=January 23, 2008 |title=A Comparison of Chinese and American Indian (Chumash) Medicine |journal=Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=219–25 |doi=10.1093/ecam/nem188 |pmc=2862936 |pmid=18955312 |df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>[http://cla.calpoly.edu/~tljones/ Terry Jones's homepage] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511194439/http://cla.calpoly.edu/~tljones/ |date=May 11, 2008 }}, California Polytechnic State University.</ref> The analogous [[Tongva language|Tongva]] term, {{lang|xgf|tii'at}}, is unrelated. If it occurred, this contact left no genetic legacy in California or Hawaii. This theory has attracted limited media attention within California, but most archaeologists of the Tongva and Chumash cultures reject it on the grounds that the independent development of the sewn-plank canoe over several centuries is well-represented in the material record.<ref>For the argument against the Chumash—Polynesian contact theory, see {{Cite journal |last=Arnold |first=J.E. |year=2007 |title=Credit Where Credit is Due: The History of the Chumash Oceangoing Plank Canoe |journal=American Antiquity |volume=72 |issue=2 |pages=196–209 |doi=10.2307/40035811 |jstor=40035811 |s2cid=145274737}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Origins of a Pacific Coast Chiefdom: The Chumash of the Channel Islands |publisher=University of Utah Press |year=2001 |editor-last=Arnold |editor-first=Jeanne E. |location=Salt Lake City}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gamble |first=Lynn H. |year=2002 |title=Archaeological Evidence for the Origin of the Plank Canoe in North America |journal=American Antiquity |volume=67 |issue=2 |pages=301–315 |doi=10.2307/2694568 |jstor=2694568 |s2cid=163616908}}</ref>

==== Clava hand-club and words for axes ====
Archaeological artefacts known as [[clava hand-club]]s found in [[Araucanía (historic region)|Araucanía]] and nearby areas of Argentina have a strong resemblance to the [[Wahaika|mere okewa]] found in [[New Zealand]].<ref name=mostnyclava/> The clava hand-clubs are also mentioned in the Spanish chronicles dating to the [[Conquest of Chile]].<ref name=mostnyclava/> According to [[Grete Mostny]], clava hand-clubs "appear to have arrived to the west coast of South America from the Pacific".<ref name=mostnyclava>{{Cite book |title=Prehistoria de Chile |last=Mostny |first=Grete |publisher=[[Editorial Universitaria]] |year=1983 |edition=6th |location=Santiago de Chile |pages=146–148 |language=Spanish |chapter=Período agroalfarero |author-link=Grete Mostny |orig-date=1981}}</ref> Polynesian clubs from [[Chatham Islands]] are reportedly the most similar to those of Chile.<ref name=Ramirez2010/> The clava hand-club is one of various Polynesian-like Mapuche artifacts known.<ref name=Ramirez2010>{{Cite journal |title=The Polynesian-Mapuche connection: Soft and Hard Evidence and New Ideas |journal=Rapa Nui Journal |last=Ramírez-Aliaga |first=José-Miguel |year=2010 |volume=24 |pages=29–33 |issue=1}}</ref>

Possible linguistic evidence for Austronesian-American contact is found in words for axes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Emory |first=Kenneth P. |date=1942 |title=OCEANIAN INFLUENCE ON AMERICAN INDIAN CULTURE. Nordenskiold's View |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20702896 |journal=The Journal of the Polynesian Society |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=126–135 |jstor=20702896 |issn=0032-4000}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Neiburger |first=E. J. |date=2020 |title=Did Polynesians Visit the Prehistoric Americas? |url=https://web.s.ebscohost.com/abstract?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=00089559&AN=141360314&h=weBRg0%2bDkyfI2tGq8bH0tUku84ud4gLOCqJT9G%2bryqM1%2fqp%2br8%2byAaPJtYz2ae7%2fy1%2bBz1D%2bzRX15N%2fJgxhcXw%3d%3d&crl=c&resultNs=AdminWebAuth&resultLocal=ErrCrlNotAuth&crlhashurl=login.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26profile%3dehost%26scope%3dsite%26authtype%3dcrawler%26jrnl%3d00089559%26AN%3d141360314 |journal=Central States Archaeological Journal |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=36–43}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Terry L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ncWCVCaWMuAC&q=toki+adze+chief+colombia |title=Polynesians in America: Pre-Columbian Contacts with the New World |last2=Storey |first2=Alice A. |last3=Matisoo-Smith |first3=Elizabeth A. |last4=Ramírez-Aliaga |first4=José Miguel |date=2011-01-16 |publisher=Rowman Altamira |isbn=978-0-7591-2006-8 |pages=103–106 |language=en}}</ref> On Easter Island, the word for a stone axe is ''[[Wiktionary:toki|toki]]''; among the New Zealand Maori, the word ''toki'' denotes an [[adze]]. Similar words are found in the Americas: In the [[Mapuche language]] of [[Chile]] and [[Argentina]], the word for a stone axe is ''toki''; and further afield in [[Colombia]], the [[Yurumanguí language|Yurumanguí]] word for an axe is ''totoki''.<ref name="Adelaar2004"/> 

Stone adzes often had ceremonial value and were worn by Maori chiefs.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lillios |first=Katina T. |date=1999-09-01 |title=Objects of Memory: The Ethnography and Archaeology of Heirlooms |url=https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021999319447 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory |language=en |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=235–262 |doi=10.1023/A:1021999319447 |issn=1573-7764}}</ref> The Mapuche word ''toki'' may also mean "chief" and thus may be related to the [[Cuzco Quechua language|Quechua]] word ''toqe'' ("militia chief") and the [[Aymara language|Aymara]] word ''toqueni'' ("person of great judgement").<ref name="Moulianetal2015">{{cite journal |last1=Moulian |first1=Rodrígo |last2=Catrileo |first2=María|last3=Landeo |first3=Pablo|author-link2=María Catrileo |date=2015 |title=Afines quechua en el vocabulario mapuche de Luis de Valdivia |trans-title=Akins Quechua words in the Mapuche vocabulary of Luis de Valdivia |url=https://scielo.conicyt.cl/scielo.php?pid=S0718-48832015000200004&script=sci_arttext|journal=[[Revista de lingüística teórica y aplicada]] |volume=53 |issue=2 |pages=73–96 |doi=10.4067/S0718-48832015000200004 |access-date=January 13, 2019|language=es|doi-access=free }}</ref> In the view of Moulian et al. (2015) the possible South American links complicate matters regarding the meaning of the word ''toki'' because they are suggestive of Polynesian contact.<ref name="Moulianetal2015" />