Equus caballus during the Protohistoric: Looking for the Horse in the Archaeological Record

Summary

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

The introduction of Equus caballus (modern horse) into Native American life on the Plains during European-American contact has been associated with major cultural and ecological changes to native lifeways. The horse influenced a variety of cultural practices including the distance at which resources could be exploited, the number of material goods that could be transported, and war practices. Bearing in mind the importance of the horse, the expectation ought to be that horse remains are prevalent in the archaeological record. Despite the impact of the horse on native Plains societies, there is a paucity of horse remains in the archaeological record in Wyoming. This paper examines the distribution of horse remains in Wyoming dating to the Protohistoric. Utilizing computer simulations and a reanalysis of the remains recovered at the Blacks Fork River site (48SW8319), this article provides potential explanations for the low representation of horse remains in the archaeological record.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23621