Understanding Patterns of Indigenous White-tailed Deer (*Odocoileus virginianus) Exploitation in the North Carolina Piedmont Using Strontium (87Sr/86Sr) Isotope Analysis

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Animal Bones to Human Behavior" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The varied responses by Native communities within the American Southeast to European colonization resulted in a period of dynamic social, economic, and political change. One such response to the colonial encounter was the development of a robust trade in the skins of white-tailed deer. In this paper, I focus on the effects of the deerskin trade on the deer exploitation practices of Native communities within the North Carolina Piedmont using strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) from deer teeth to identify patterns of mobility and estimate hunting territories. Through the analysis of archaeofaunal assemblages from five Piedmont sites dating from AD 1450 to 1710 in the Eno and Dan River drainages, I identify multiple patterns of changes in Indigenous hunting behaviors. Situating these contrasting patterns of exploitation within the broader context of European colonization and the deerskin trade, these results highlight the dynamic and community-specific responses of Native communities to the disruptions and opportunities represented by the colonial encounter.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Animal Bones to Human Behavior   •
• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32354