Animal Use among the Monongahela: Insights from the Analysis of the Johnston Site Faunal Assemblage

Summary

Excavations at the Johnston site (36IN2), a Middle Monongahela village located in western Pennsylvania, have generated a large, generally well-preserved assemblage of faunal remains. Between excavations in the 1950s and those conducted since 2005 by IUP, a significant portion of this large ring village has been sampled. Thus, this assemblage provides a rare opportunity to document the use of animals by the Monongahela. Initial faunal analysis was undertaken by John Guilday of the Carnegie Museum in the mid-1950s. More recently several preliminary studies of the composition and spatial distribution of this assemblage as well as of contrasts between assemblages collected during various excavations have been undertaken over the last decade. It is now possible to synthesize these studies and develop a more definitive statement of this assemblage’s implications for reconstructing various aspects of Monongahela life including subsistence, butchering, bone tools, use of space, refuse disposal practices, and social interactions. This paper presents key inferences and makes clear that zooarchaeological analyses contribute significantly to regional perspectives on the Late Prehistoric period in western Pennsylvania.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20004