Turkeys made dinnertime appearance long before the American Pilgrims

As millions of Americans sit down to a turkey dinner on Thursday, they are likely repeating a tradition much older than the first Thanksgiving.

An archaeological dig has unearthed evidence that turkeys were domesticated and used in rituals in Mexico as long as 1,500 years ago.

Researchers have dug up a collection of juvenile and adult male and female turkeys, as well as whole and cracked eggs, at a site in Oaxaca, in southwest Mexico. This is still the home of the Zapotec people, who have lived there for thousands of years, says archaeologist Gary Feinman, from the Field Museum of Natural History.

He and lead author Heather Lapham, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and co-author Linda Nicholas, of the Field Museum, believe the collection of bones indicates a ritual burial based on a holding of domesticated birds of various ages.

The find is “very exciting” and “very unexpected”, said Mr Feinman, because it was rare to find a collection of intact eggs.

The three authors describe the find in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

"It helps to confirm historical information about the use of turkeys in the area," Mr Feinman said.

There were very few domesticated animals in Oaxaca and the wider region at that time, compared with Europe.

The Spanish, who later conquered Central America, brought over chicken, beef and pork, but the Zapotec people would have been relying on turkeys and dogs, the researchers said.

They added that turkeys remain an important food source today, with uses in rituals for birthdays, baptisms and religious festivals.

“These are not unlike the kinds of turkeys that would have been around at the first Thanskgiving, and similar to the birds that we eat today,” Mr Feinman said.

The first Thanksgiving celebration took place in 1621 and involved the newly arrived Pilgrim settlers and the local Native Americans. It was held to mark their first year in the New World and a bumper harvest that autumn, ensuring that they had enough food to survive the region’s long, cold winter months.