New Insights on Avifauna from Picuris Pueblo

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Collaborative Archaeology at Picuris Pueblo: The New History" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The avifauna collection of Picuris Pueblo is fertile ground for understanding human-environmental relationships in the Northern Rio Grande. Migratory birds like geese (Branta sp.) illustrate the seasonality and adaptivity of past peoples, staples such as turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) show domestication strategies, and wild species such as doves (Zenaida sp.) convey how management shifted with the needs of the community. The ancestral pueblo was extensively excavated by Herbert Dick in the 1960s, but many of the faunal remains (mammalian) were lost and/or reburied and therefore unavailable for further study. However, the avifauna remains are intact and well-provienced. The collection, curated by Hargrave and Emslie, demonstrates a unique archive of the past from the faunal record. Using taxon identifications from Emslie and new taphonomic data from the author, this paper reveals how birds and humans were using the planned and managed landscapes surrounding the Pueblo. Examining butcher practices, flock management, and animal behavior, this paper seeks to contextualize the avifauna’s place in Picuris ancestral pueblo. This research is part of an ongoing look at how Picuris managed animal species in both formal and informal strategies to cooperate with the larger environment and changing geopolitical realities.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Collaborative Archaeology at Picuris Pueblo: The New History   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38510.0