Small-Game Utilization amouung the Ache of Eastern Paraguay: A Study of Taphnomy in Ethnoarchaeology

Summary

In 1982, a team of anthropologists from the University of Utah conducted field work with the Aché of Eastern Paraguay. During a ten-day forest hunting trek with the Aché, the anthropologists collected prey skeletal remains after each evening meal before the bones were discarded. Over the span of the ten-day trek, the Aché procured a total of 65 animals totaling 235.4 kg (live weight). The largest animal taken during the foray was a juvenile red brocket deer and the smallest was an unidentified bird. Complete bones and bone fragments from these 65 animals totaled 7,689 specimens. Analysis of the bones from this trek form the basis for this thesis. Unlike faunal assemblages from archaeological sites which may be influenced by a suite of post-depositional taphonomic processes (density-mediated attrition, carnivore consumption and modification, etc.), damaged displayed in the Aché assemblage presented here is attributable only to the actions of the human foragers. The taphonomic damage produced by Aché butchery, processing and consumption reported here provide an important addition to the current zooarchaeological database. For example, it is widely known that the size of prey influences the frequency and placement of cutmarks. Yet most zooarchaeological analyses still rely on taphonomic studies derived from the analysis of large-game assemblages. This study focus solely on small prey and thus adds to the growing literature on small-game taphonomy. In this thesis, I begin by discussing different theoretical approaches to taphonomy and faunal studies by examining the ethnoarchaeological literature on small-game taphonomy. I then discuss each of the 10 bone assemblages and present quantitative and qualitative data on damage displayed on the bones. Next, I analyze selected taphonomic attributes in detail and propose potential behavioral explanations that were responsible for their creation. I end this study by applying the results of Aché small-prey data to archaeological data on small-mammal remains from the Olduvai Gorge site in Tanzania. By doing so, I consider the archaeological implications of small-game hunting and the role of small-game taphonomy in discerning past human hunting behaviors.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Ache Small Game Taphonomy

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Contact(s): Chris Nicholson

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