Philippines, Biology

However, it is certain that later Polynesian voyaging canoes had the technical capability to reach the Americas, and to return. That the Polynesians did indeed reach South America and return is strongly suggested by preserved remains of the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), a South American domesticate, recovered from several prehistoric Polynesian sites (such as the Tangatatau rockshelter on Mangaia, Cook Islands). Further evidence of contact has recently been provided by the bones of chickens (Gallus gallus, a Polynesian domesticate) from a pre-Columbian archeological site in Chile. More controversial has been the claim that Polynesians may have introduced the technology of plank-built canoes to the Chumash of the Channel Islands, off the coast of California.