Complex Human-Animal Interactions in the Americas

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Complex Human-Animal Interactions in the Americas" at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Through time, humans developed a multitude of strategies to assume increasing control over the animal resources they relied on, and through these strategies, they fundamentally altered how they interacted with and impacted their environment. The topic of animal management and domestication is therefore of crucial importance to understanding past human societies and evolving human-animal relationships. Animal domestication independently emerged on several continents, but there is some divergence in how animal management and domestication unfolded in the Americas versus Africa and Eurasia. The proposed symposium will bring together researchers investigating diverse aspects of past animal management in the Americas (from precolonial through colonial times) including taming, provisioning, captive rearing, flock/herd management and domestication. Through these diverse perspectives on complex human-animal interactions, we hope to generate discussion regarding how human-animal interactions in the Americas compare and contrast to practices/processes identified in other geographic regions.

Other Keywords
Mesoamerica • Zooarchaeology • North America • Subsistence and Foodways: Domestication

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-10 of 10)

  • Documents (10)
Documents
  • Andean Hunting and Pastoralism: Measures of Animal Health, Care, and Environmental Change (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Katherine Moore.

    This is an abstract from the "Complex Human-Animal Interactions in the Americas" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The origins of domesticated llamas and alpacas from their wild ancestors took place in arid and rugged environments. Zooarchaeological remains of camelids record the wellbeing, mobility, and longevity of individual animals. Records from several high-resolution assemblages from the central Andes show different life histories over time,...

  • Coastal Resource Management and Sustainable subsistence: Stone Crab Harvesting at Isla Cerritos, Yucatán (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Nayeli Jiménez Cano.

    This is an abstract from the "Complex Human-Animal Interactions in the Americas" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In Mesoamerican archaeology, animal management in coastal environments is often underexplored, particularly concerning the consumption of invertebrates beyond mollusks. This presentation addresses this gap by examining the exploitation of stone crabs (Menippe mercenaria) at Isla Cerritos, Yucatán, Mexico, during the Terminal Classic...

  • The Diversity of Domestic Dogs in Highland Chiapas: Long-Distance Exchange and Specialized Morphotypes (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Elizabeth Paris.

    This is an abstract from the "Complex Human-Animal Interactions in the Americas" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. <html> As the oldest known domesticated species, dogs and humans have had a shared and enmeshed history in the Americas for thousands of years. By Spanish contact, historic accounts describe named, specialized morphotypes such as the hairless xoloitzcuintli and the short-legged tlalchichi; many questions remain about the origin and...

  • Genomic Analyses Reveal Direct Descent of Mexican Heritage Turkeys from Wild Ancestors (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Neeka Sewnath.

    This is an abstract from the "Complex Human-Animal Interactions in the Americas" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Modern domesticated and commercial turkeys trace their origins to an as-yet unidentified wild turkey subspecies in Mesoamerica. Understanding whether current Mexican heritage turkeys are direct descendants of these original wild populations or if they have been cross-bred with other domesticated lines is crucial to unraveling the...

  • Herd Management Strategies in Colonial Sonora: Regional Trends and Emergent Shared Practices (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Nicole Mathwich.

    This is an abstract from the "Complex Human-Animal Interactions in the Americas" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The introduction of livestock in colonial Pimería Alta, today Southern Arizona, laid the foundation for the modern economies of Sonora and Arizona, and the introduction of European livestock and agricultural practices by Jesuit missions transformed the region's economy. This study explores the herd management strategies in the Pimería...

  • Household-level Management of Small game at Teotihuacan, Mexico: Zooarchaeological and Isotopic Proxies from Plaza of the Columns Complex (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Nawa Sugiyama.

    This is an abstract from the "Complex Human-Animal Interactions in the Americas" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the absence of large domesticates, one of the New World’s largest cities seems full of paradoxes. At Teotihuacan, the two known domesticates, the dog and turkey (17%), and the largest readily available herbivore, deer (11%), were not major contributors to animal protein, yet, there is no evidence of elevated cases of animal protein...

  • <html>Animals and Political Economy in the Andes: Camelids and <i>Cuyes</i> as Food and Ritual Offering at Middle Horizon Huaca Colorada and Tecapa, Peru (650-1050 CE)</html> (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Aleksa Alaica.

    This is an abstract from the "Complex Human-Animal Interactions in the Americas" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Camelids and guinea pigs (cuy) are central to Andean cuisine and ritual practice. In this paper, we examine the variable use of camelids and guinea pigs in the complex social and political relationships of Late Moche and Transitional phases of the Andean Middle Horizon on the North Coast of Peru (650-1050 CE). We mobilize the analysis...

  • Human-Animal Interactions in the North American Southeast (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Barnet Pavao-Zuckerman.

    This is an abstract from the "Complex Human-Animal Interactions in the Americas" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. While the southeastern region of North America is home to one of the major centers of plant domestication, no large animals native to this region were added to the global suite of domesticated animals. Domesticated livestock were introduced from elsewhere, both tools of, and accessories to, European settler colonialism. These animals...

  • Late and Terminal Classic management of deer, dogs, ducks, and other animals: Strontium, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur isotope data analyses at Ucanal, Guatemala (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Carolyn Freiwald.

    This is an abstract from the "Complex Human-Animal Interactions in the Americas" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Ucanal, Guatemala was a Maya city in the central lowlands whose Terminal Classic population grew as other cities were abandoned. Domesticated animal species included dogs and at least one Muscovy duck whose diets show a variety of foddering strategies. An elite Late Classic worked bone deposit also shows the importance of whitetail...

  • The origin of the Fuegian Dog: Reassessment of taxonomic identity and domestication process using whole genome sequencing (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Camilla Speller.

    This is an abstract from the "Complex Human-Animal Interactions in the Americas" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper examines the origin and possible domestication of the Fuegian dog, an extinct canine species that lived alongside Indigenous groups in Tierra del Fuego, South America. Historical accounts by explorers and naturalists offer conflicting viewpoints regarding the origin of this South American canid. While some suggest an historic...