Faunal Analysis of Collections from Chilili, New Mexico (LA 847)

Summary

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

Under contract with the New Mexico Department of Transportation for a bridge replacement undertaking, Statistical Research, Inc. performed an analysis of 3,143 faunal specimens from the Early Pueblo period component at Chilili, northernmost of the recognized Salinas province pueblos. The results of the analysis suggest that Chilili does not fit neatly into preconceptions regarding Puebloan faunal research in the region. Unlike other Salinas province pueblos such as Gran Quivira and Pueblo Blanco where bison were procured directly from Plains groups and were a major dietary component, the Chilili assemblage contains no identified bison remains. Pronghorn represent most of the identifiable artiodactyl elements, suggesting that the inhabitants may have engaged in communal hunting on the nearby plains that may have negated the need to trade for bison In this respect, Chilili is more similar to East Sandia Mountain sites to the north such as Tijeras Pueblo and San Antonio de Padua than to the Salinas province pueblos to the south. Multiple lines of evidence, including high Artiodactyl Index and Lagomorph Index values, as well as artiodactyl long bone proportions and breakage patterns, suggest that subsistence at Chilili was supplemented by meat obtained through the hunting of locally available artiodactyls and lagomorphs.

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): 52909