Life on the Edge: An Investigation of 18th Century Spanish Colonial Subsistence Strategies in the Northern Rio Grande

Summary

The 18th century Northern Rio Grande basin of New Mexico was a politically volatile and contested landscape. Hispano settlers, including those who established the aldea of San Antonio del Embudo (now Dixon, New Mexico) along the Embudo River in 1725, found themselves entangled in a complex web of socioeconomic interactions and, at times, hostilities with diverse indigenous peoples. To what extent did these Spanish colonists adhere to European subsistence strategies or embrace native foodways? Do trends in the relative dependence on wild versus domestic species reflect trade and contact with local indigenous groups or covary with periods of heightened hostility? This study presents the results of a recent analysis of faunal remains recovered during the 2013 excavation of a plaza midden from a residential structure at Dixon, New Mexico. The faunal record not only attests to the population’s long-term reliance on European domesticates (sheep, goat, pig, and cattle), but also reveals the considerable importance of wild resources (deer, elk, bison, and bear) to village inhabitants. Further, the presence of worked bone artifacts provides tantalizing evidence for exchange with local native groups or perhaps indicates the presence of genízaro members of the San Antonio del Embudo community.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage