Raising a Rafter: Networks and Ancestral Pueblo Intensification of Turkey Husbandry in the Northern Rio Grande Region, 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.

Zooarchaeological research in the Northern Rio Grande shows that turkey husbandry became increasingly important to the Ancestral Pueblo during the Classic Period (AD 1350-1600). During this time, immigrant and local communities coalesced into increasingly larger villages and towns, with abundant evidence for turkey husbandry. Turkeys served as a critical resource for both subsistence and ritual uses. Through ethnographic and archaeological data and modern animal sciences research on turkey raising, we explore the role of intensive husbandry at certain Ancestral Pueblo sites within broader economic networks. These socio-ecological models are then tested against the archaeological record of Sapa’owingeh (LA306), a large Ancestral Pueblo community with extensive evidence for large scale turkey husbandry.

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): 24632