Dietary and Environmental Implications of Animal Use in the Okeechobee Basin Area of Florida

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In order to gain a better understanding of the faunal diet composition of Native Americans in south-central Florida, an examination was conducted to determine which types of animals appeared most frequently within tree island assemblages. Of the faunal remains examined from a 2016 excavation, all were identified to at least an animal’s taxonomic order, although identification to the species level was usually not possible due to the fragmentary nature of the sample. This information was compared with radiocarbon data to determine changes to diet through time as well as with oral histories from Seminole community members in order to compare stated dietary preferences with prehistoric evidence. This study determined the most prominent animal types present in the assemblage and identified whether there were fluctuations in animal composition present throughout time that could indicate a changing environment and differential resource availability and exploitation. Understanding the environmental changes through time and their impacts on subsistence patterns demonstrate the ways in which tree island inhabitants reacted to environmental changes.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23716