Cows, Genes, and African Cowboys: How Paleogenetics Could Support the Role of Afro-descending Workers in the Emergence of Cattle Ranching in Early Spanish America

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Despite long term study, the history of the introduction of cattle and their management practices in the Western Hemisphere staring in the 16th century is particularly complex and there is still uncertainty around the origins and the distribution of the animals through time. While the traditional historical scholarship suggests that the animals were brought exclusively from the Iberian Peninsula, the genetic make-up of modern Latin-American breeds reveals they have a complex ancestry, with roots in Europe and Africa. This study is the first analysis of paternal and maternal lineages of archaeological cattle remains from the Americas. It confirms the complex history of their introduction in the Western Hemisphere and supports the central role of enslaved workers of African descent in the emergence of the cattle ranching culture in the post-Columbian Americas.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow