Herd Management Strategies in Colonial Sonora: Regional Trends and Emergent Shared Practices

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Complex Human-Animal Interactions in the Americas" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The introduction of livestock in colonial Pimería Alta, today Southern Arizona, laid the foundation for the modern economies of Sonora and Arizona, and the introduction of European livestock and agricultural practices by Jesuit missions transformed the region's economy. This study explores the herd management strategies in the Pimería Alta by comparing them with other mission rectorates (religious administrative districts) in northern colonial Sonora. Using historical inventories and statistical analyses, this research highlights the central role of cattle, sheep, and horses in the colonial economy and identifies emergent

trends. The results indicate regional differences in livestock management and a general decline in herd sizes over time, influenced by environmental and sociopolitical factors such as raiding pressures. Notably, there were strong regional distinctions in equine management. There were overall large patterns regionally in cattle and caprine management that transcended districts, suggestive of an emergent regional ranching culture. Despite linguistic and cultural differences among indigenous groups in the region, the desert environment and colonial economic pressures produced similar management patterns in all four districts. This study contributes to understandings of colonial livestock management and the foundations of the cattle industry and ranching cultures of the US-Mexico borderlands.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Complex Human-Animal Interactions in the Americas

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51171