Animal Remains and Archaeological Context in the Mogollon Area, AD 1000–1450

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Research Hot Off the Trowel in the Upper Gila and Mimbres Areas" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This poster examines contextual patterns in deposits of animal bones from the Mimbres and upper Gila areas of southwest New Mexico from the Mimbres Classic through Cliff phase Salado periods (AD 1000–1450). Remains of common animal species in contexts like sheet middens and room fill are often interpreted as food remains. Less common animal taxa are more often recovered in contexts such as purposeful floor deposits, floor feature fill, and deposits people left behind in partially filled-in rooms or other contexts where “ordinary” use of a structure had clearly ended. Some deposits include taxa associated with religious activities in southwestern ethnographies, such as carnivores, raptors, and water birds. Some taxa are most common as food remains, but are also sometimes associated with unusual contexts where people imbued them with other important meanings. Comparing distinctive animal bone deposits across time and space allows a more nuanced understanding of variation in the uses of animal taxa for food, raw materials, and for ritual and important events.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Research Hot Off the Trowel in the Upper Gila and Mimbres Areas

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32989