Eleventh-Century Aviculture in the Mimbres Valley: An Archaeology of the Human Experience Approach

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Isotopic and Animal aDNA Analyses in the Southwest/Northwest" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

For the past 2,000 years, people throughout the US Southwest and Northwest Mexico have woven scarlet macaws and turkeys into their economic, social, and ceremonial fabric. Pueblo groups in the past did not view all birds as being equal, and neither do archaeologists today, as we study macaws and turkeys more so than any other avian species. We have learned a great deal about how people in the Mimbres Valley during the Classic period (CE 1000–1130) managed macaws and turkeys based on isotopes, genetics, and iconography; however, in this paper, we place the human experience at the forefront of archaeological discussions. Using an Archaeology of the Human Experience approach, we examine what it was like for Mimbres aviculturists to live side-by-side raising, caring for, and interacting with these birds daily. We discuss the potential challenges ancient aviculturists dealt with, and we offer solutions for how they kept nonlocal (macaws) and local (turkeys) birds using eleventh-century technology and practices.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Isotopic and Animal aDNA Analyses in the Southwest/Northwest   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36070.0