Elk in the Rockies: Interweaving the Ethnographic Present and the Archaeological Past toward More Thoughtful Animal Management

Summary

This is an abstract from the "A Further Discussion on the Role of Archaeology in Resource and Public Land Management" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Modern land management in the North American West, including issues like species conservation and cultural resource preservation, is difficult to navigate. Even though both are pillars of land management, the worlds of species conservation and archaeology do not often overlap—though both fields could benefit. The archaeological record has much to offer in terms of contextualizing and extending the time depth of our modern understandings of species population numbers, ranges, and interactions with humans. Modern and (ethno)historic conservation and population management methods could provide illumination into archaeological questions. Integrating the two could lead to a more thoughtful, place-based approach to land management. I explore the ways in which melding these two fields may work in practice using a case study of elk (wapiti, Cervus elaphus/canadensis) in the Wyoming Rockies as a part of my PhD research. While elk do not seem to conventionally appear in the archaeological record, they are present iconographically and through ornamentation and tools. They are deeply represented in the ethnohistoric record. Elk have long been a particularly salient feature of conservation in the West and are currently facing tough crossroads. An integrative approach to their management may be a creative way forward.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• A Further Discussion on the Role of Archaeology in Resource and Public Land Management   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36810.0