Turkey Domestication and Utilization in an Ancestral Puebloan Community

Summary

The archaeofaunal remains left by the Ancestral Puebloan people who lived in the Goodman Point community provide a chronological record of their interaction with turkey (Meleagris gallopavo). Domestication can be regarded as a co-evolutionary relationship between a plant or animal species and humans that varies in the intensity of mutual dependence. We examine how the Goodman Point residents’ relationship with turkey evolved from the late AD 900s to the 1280’s. Our research involves the analysis of temporal fluctuations in relative abundance of turkey remains in diet, shifts in turkey mortality patterns, and changes in the context of turkey utilization and consumption. Our results demonstrate that a complex relationship existed that was shaped by growth of the community over time and by human adaptation to environmental change. An extended temporal examination of this community’s relationship with turkey enhances the narrative for the larger Northern San Juan region regarding cultural change leading up to regional abandonment.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Communities through Time: Societal Continuity and Transformation in the Northern San Juan Region

Keywords

Spatial Coverage