An Examination of Pocket Gopher Use at the Woodland Period Rainbow Site (13PM91), Iowa

Summary

The Rainbow site (13PM91) is a multi-component Woodland site situated within the tallgrass prairie of northwest Iowa. Excavated in the late 1970’s, the site remains one of few examples within the region for Woodland period habitation sites with substantial recovered faunal collections. The current study focuses on the seemingly unusual concentration of pocket gophers (Geomys bursarius) found within Cultural Horizon C (~1400-1370 BP). Recent reanalysis of the faunal assemblage reveals a presence of 885 pocket gopher specimens accounting for a minimum of 124 individuals within this horizon, of which the vast majority (94%) are made up of cranial and mandible elements. Initial reports noted that the majority of pocket gopher remains in this level were associated with Structure 1, a lodge. This surprising number and spatial concentration of remains suggests that humans were responsible for their accumulation at the site, and that gophers may have served as a part of the subsistence base for site residents. In this presentation, evidence for the use of pocket gophers through time at the Rainbow site is examined, along with what role they may have played within the faunal subsistence base.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage