Using Faunal Stable Isotopes to Assess Past Hunting Practices and Landscape Modification Along the Feather River, CA

Author(s): Jessica Morales; Jelmer Eerkens; Jeffrey Rosenthal; Andrew Ugan

Year: 2018

Summary

Isotopic studies of faunal remains provide an ecological framework from which to interpret human behavior, including diet, subsistence, settlement, and mobility. In this study, we present isotopic analysis of four well-dated sites that span a 3500-year record along the Feather River, the biggest tributary of the Sacramento River located in Northern Central California. Through carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur stable isotopes we explore the effects of human population growth on the type(s) of browse that was available for game, as a reflection of landscape modification and maintenance. As well, we hypothesize that as populations grew regionally, game came from a smaller territorial range, and use changes in intra-species isotope variation to evaluate this hypothesis.

Cite this Record

Using Faunal Stable Isotopes to Assess Past Hunting Practices and Landscape Modification Along the Feather River, CA. Jessica Morales, Jelmer Eerkens, Jeffrey Rosenthal, Andrew Ugan. Presented at The 82nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Washington, DC. 2018 ( tDAR id: 443173)

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Keywords

General
Archaeometry & Materials Analysis • Hunter-Gatherers/Foragers • Stable Isotopes Ecology

Geographic Keywords
North America: California and Great Basin

Spatial Coverage

min long: -124.189; min lat: 31.803 ; max long: -105.469; max lat: 43.58 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21800