Eastern Washington Faunal Database Project

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

We have created a database of faunal assemblages from the eastern half of Washington state, compiled from reports through ~2023, with taxonomic identifications, age estimates, and locations. So far there are 482 archaeological assemblages with reported genus or species NISP, from 329 discrete sites, with a total of 66,502 NISP. Some 298 assemblages have age estimates with midpoints that can be placed into five calendar year periods: Younger Dryas (12.9-11.7 ka), Early Holocene (11.7-8.5 ka), Middle Holocene (8.5-5.5 ka), early Late Holocene (5.5-2.0 ka), and Late Holocene (<2.0 ka). Preliminary data using 166 assemblages with >19 genus NISP show Odocoileus the most common and most abundant genus in all but the two earliest periods, with the smallest samples. Other common and abundant genera include Ovis, Sylvilagus, Antilocapra, Lepus, Cervus, Marmota, and small, likely intrusive rodents. The artiodactyl index shows heavy use of artiodactyls in later periods, reaching 0.85 in the Late Holocene. Investigations of richness, evenness, size class, spatial patterns, biogeography, and more are underway. We welcome comments on additional assemblages or age estimates to incorporate into the database.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51796