Investigating Turkey Husbandry on the Chacoan Frontier: Stable Isotope Results from Three Pueblo II Great House Communities in West Central New Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Current Research on Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) Domestication, Husbandry and Management in North America and Beyond" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Growing research in animal domestication in the prehistoric western hemisphere has revealed a complex relationship between humans and the only originally domesticated animal in North America, the turkey (Meleagris gallopavo). Research suggests reasons for turkey management ranged from the use of their feathers in ritual to their value as significant protein resources during/after the transition from foraging to food production in North America. Reasons for managing turkeys varied cross-culturally, and its timing appears to vary across space. Therefore, additional research is required if we are to fully understand the role of turkeys in North American cultural evolution. Questions remain regarding when and where turkey domestication was practiced across the Southwest. This paper provides additional insight by presenting stable isotope analysis of turkey remains from Cox Ranch, Largo Gap, and Cerro Pomo pueblos on the western frontier of the Chacoan world in west central New Mexico. The level to which turkeys there relied on human caretakers for sustenance reveals their value at a time when food production was firmly established as a mode of subsistence. The results of this study expands our understanding of turkey husbandry in the Southwest specifically, and the complexity of food production in North America generally.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Current Research on Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) Domestication, Husbandry and Management in North America and Beyond

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 26084