Tracking Individual Raptors in the Archaeological Record Using Stable Isotope Analysis: Some Implications for the Study of Ritual Economies in New Mexico

Summary

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

In this poster, we explore a cost-effective method for tracking artifacts made from individual raptors (or birds of prey) through the use of intra-skeletal variation in δ13C, δ15N, δ2H in modern samples of Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) and Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos). Current methods of quantification in zooarchaeology, such as the minimum number of individuals (MNI), work to identify individual animals within a site. However, they cannot be applied to quantifying skeletal material from the same individual at different sites. Ancient DNA is one method that allows archaeologists to track individual fauna, but it is expensive. Do individual raptors exhibit distinct stable isotopic signatures because of little to no intra-skeletal variation in δ13C, δ15N, δ2H? Identifying individual fauna in the archaeological record could aid in the reconstruction of regional trade networks and distinguishing potential distribution centers of flutes and whistles in prehispanic New Mexico. Flutes and whistles recovered from Ancestral Pueblo contexts were commonly manufactured from the bones of birds of prey. Tracking individual raptors can lead to better understanding the economic role that flutes and whistles had in the Ancestral Pueblo world.

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): 24986