The Effects of the Colonial Introduction of European Domestic Fauna in Some Localities of Southern Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Columbian Exchange Revisited: Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives on Eurasian Domesticates in the Americas" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The introduction of European domestic fauna during the Spanish conquest represents a major change in the cultural use of animals, influencing both how they acquired and processed. Although this point has been recognized, in fact it has been poorly documented. This work, based on the common protocol for archaeozoological studies, analyzes a collection of five localities from the state of Morelos, Mexico. They are chronologically located between the Postclassic and mid-colonial periods, some of them showing one or more occupational stages. The initial hypothesis proposes that the introduction of European domestic animals caused a reduction of faunal diversity in the human settlements compared to prehispanic practices. Thus, the faunal contents of the sites were measured and compared by means of diversity index, looking for the differential impact in a regional perspective on the cultural use of animals. The preliminary results of the sites suggest a faunal use pattern where the most radical change was the introduction of European domestic fauna, mainly cattle, sheep, and, to a lesser extent, poultry; while persistence is represented by local resources, probably from occasional milpa hunting.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Columbian Exchange Revisited: Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives on Eurasian Domesticates in the Americas   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39110.0