The EAFWG and Multi-scale Analyses of the Use of Fauna During the Archaic Period in the Interior Eastern Woodlands

Summary

The formation of the Eastern Archaic Faunal Working Group (EAFWG) has brought together zooarchaeologists responsible for the analysis and interpretation of a large number of significant faunal assemblages from Archaic period sites. Our collaboration has led to the preservation of nearly 60 significant faunal datasets from 21 archaeological sites in several areas of the U.S. interior Eastern Woodlands in the Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR). This collection of datasets has been integrated using tDAR ontologies, which allow us to compare and combine datasets created in different formats by different researchers. After addressing the comparability of these datasets, we are examining research questions that have broad significance to understanding the Archaic Period. Temporal and spatial variability in reliance on aquatic resources by Archaic peoples has long been noted, and differences have been attributed to environmental variability and climatic change, to patterns of population growth and aggregation, and most recently to cultural preference, practices and interaction. The EAFWG tDAR collection of datasets allows us to explore differing use of aquatic resources as well as how these contrasts relate to potential causal factors at local, sub-regional, and regional scales. Our research provides important perspectives on the natural and cultural landscapes of the Eastern Archaic.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Making Fauna Matter in Archaic Period Research: Exploring Adaptation, Population Growth, and Cultural Practice through the Digital Integration of Eastern Archaic Faunal Datasets   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14970