When it comes to the success of ancient civilizations, the first things that come to mind are typically their military strength, roads, and trade. New research, however, highlights a potential key to the strength of a pre-Incan society that is both surprising and slightly disgusting: seabird guano, also known as bird poop.
The successful power in question is the Chincha Kingdom (1000 – 1400 CE), a coastal society that ruled over the Chincha Valley in present-day southern Peru. In the first half of the 15th century the kingdom was integrated into the better-known Inca Empire without conflict. But what could the kingdom have used bird poop for? The answer is fertilizer, specifically for corn, according to a study published today in the journal new PLOS One.
“Pre-Hispanic communities in southern Peru used seabird guano to cultivate maize [corn] at least 800 years ago,” Jacob Bongers, lead author of the paper and a digital archaeologist at the University of Sydney, tells Popular Science. “As an effective and highly valuable fertilizer, guano enabled local communities to increase crop yields and expand trade networks, shaping the economic expansion of the Chincha Kingdom and its eventual relationship with the Inca Empire in the 15th century.”
Bongers and his colleagues investigated the Chincha’s potential use of seabird guano as fertilizer, tackling the subject through geochemistry, archaeology, and historical sources. On the geochemical side, they analyzed preserved corn cobs and found surprisingly high levels of nitrogen given the local soil it would have grown in. Cue the seabirds—their marine diet makes their guano nitrogen-rich. The analysis suggests that the Chincha were employing the bird poop by approximately 1250 CE. The team believes that the Chincha probably ferried the guano over from the Chincha Islands.
On the archeological and historical side, the team looked at ceramics, pottery, textiles, paintings, and wall carvings featuring the combined presence of seabirds, fish, and sprouting corn.
“Evidence from historical documents and Chincha art helps us contextualize the importance of guano and seabirds for the Chincha,” Jo Osborn, an anthropological archaeologist at Texas A&M University and co-author of the study, tells Popular Science. “We argue this was not simply an extractive technology for them, but part of their relationships with the natural world. They had deep ecological knowledge of the relationships between fish, birds, and fertilizers, and the importance of these birds is broadly reflected in their artwork.” Osborn believes that this ecological knowledge is the most interesting aspect of the study.
In other words, in addition to seabird guano’s association with political power, the resource also represented an understanding of nature’s dynamics that played a significant cultural role in Chinchan society.
“I would argue that their success came from how they integrated this knowledge into the very fabric of their society,” Osborn explains. “Their unique worldview, which included veneration of the islands and a deep respect for guano birds, allowed them to sustainably manage a vital resource, fueling their prosperity and ultimately facilitating their successful incorporation into the Inca empire.”
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