No description available.

Maize uses a photosynthetic pathway called C4 which produces a carbon signature in animal tissue that is different from most of the plants available to the inhabitants of the Southeastern United States. Faunal remains (deer, rodent, and turtle) from Pocahontas Mounds (22HI500) and Lyon’s Bluff (22OK520) were tested to determine whether the samples possessed a C4 signature. Maize has been found at both sites, but the extent of maize agriculture was not known. Rodent and turtle from both sites indicate partial to heavy consumption of C4 plants, while one deer sample from Pocahontas indicates moderate consumption of C4 plants. The faunal assemblage from Pocahontas was also tested for niche breadth to see if there was evidence for land clearance associated with agriculture. There appeared to be little to no change in the choice of animals through time at Pocahontas Mounds, so a large amount of land clearance is not supported. The results provide an indirect evidence for maize in the diet humans.

No description available.

This thesis investigates the changing meat supply and butchery practices at medieval castles in England. The analysis represents a departure from prevailing zooarchaeological butchery studies in that it considers the importance of analysing butchery patterns to gain a better understanding of social status, diet and changes in how animals were exploited over time and in various geographic locations in England. This research highlights the potential of butchery studies and reveals previously unestablished information about how butchery was carried out, how meat was supplied and the practical and social reasoning behind why animals were slaughtered and consumed in a certain way. A butchery methodology was implemented for identifying significant patterns detailing where butchery marks were occurring on bone. The methodology was tested on assemblages from three castle sites: Edlingham Castle, Portchester Castle and Beeston Castle. The methodology is further carried out in the form of assessments for comparison, on animal bone assemblages from medieval urban sites in Newcastle, Winchester and Chester. The methodology is successful in showing that analysing butchery practices of an animal bone assemblage, has the potential to reveal previously unestablished information about past butchery practices and consumption patterns. High status medieval castle assemblages predominately show a professional style of butchery, however this is not always the case. A key characteristic of this style is the longitudinal division of the spine of a carcass. This thesis hypothesises that a castle in close proximity to an urban area would display a professional style of butchery and therefore would likely have a significant amount of dressed carcasses brought to the castle from an urban centre. However, location is not the only variable to take in to consideration. This research shows that the level of status of a castle is also an essential factor to consider. Aspects of this research can be implemented as an extension of existing methods available to zooarchaeologists in order to gain a better understanding of butchery practices and social status. Issues highlighted by the case studies in question are explored and ideas for future research are suggested.

This PhD thesis (totaling approximately 55,000 words) argues for the value of biometric studies of domesticates as a means by which to examine controversial questions in archaeological research. Taking the Greek colonisation of southern Italy and the Adriatic coast of Croatia as case studies faunal material was examined from Greece and both of these areas to determine what data domesticates could provide as to the scale and process of Greek colonisation in these regions. Distinct varieties of sheep and cattle were identified from Greece through bone measurements. These Greek livestock could then be traced to colonies in Italy, although not necessarily in Croatia. It was argued from the scale of evidence for domesticate translocation it Italy that a substantial majority of settlement in these colonies came from settlement relocation of families or groups from Greece, but that some indigenous or “other” variety livestock were included in the domesticate makeup of each colony site. Some provisional data from Archaic and later indigenous sites from Italy suggested that Greek livestock varieties were traded throughout the colonial landscape. Data from Croatia was less clear, as no conclusive evidence for Greek livestock translocation to colonies could be found. Likewise, no evidence was found of trade in Greek livestock varieties with indigenous settlements.

This analysis of faunal remains from Goodman Point Pueblo (5MT604), a large village occupied just before the ancestral Puebloans permanently left southwestern Colorado at the end of the thirteenth century, explores the effect of dietary stress during abandonment in the Four Corners region. As archaeologists, we interpret what these former cultures were like and what resources they used through what they left behind. By specifically looking at faunal remains, or remains from food resources, environmental change and dietary stress can be assessed. Identifications of taxa identified at Goodman Point are made explicit via a systematic paleontology. This is followed by site-level taxonomic abundances and spatial analysis. Then, effects of technological innovations, environmental change, and sample quality are examined as alternate explanations of shifts in foraging efficiency, particularly related to animal hunting. Analyzing why and if the availability of faunal resources changes over time helps to clarify why the ancestral Puebloans left southwestern Colorado.

Zooarchaeological analysis of fish bones is a valuable approach to understand prehistoric diet and resource exploitation in island and coastal settings. This thesis explores fish use at the Hopoate site on Tongatapu by identifying the various taxa which comprised the ichthyoarchaeological assemblage. The analysis focused on recovered materials which date to the earliest period of occupation in Tonga (2850 cal BP). This is the first detailed fishery study from Tongatapu; few have been conducted elsewhere in Tonga. The inhabitants at Hopoate focused fishing on inshore reef fish which is typical of Lapita fisheries. The first inhabitants, the Lapita peoples, benefited from a mixed subsistence economy of plant and marine foods. However, the relative contribution of fish to the Lapita diet was variable across the Pacific Islands. Eighteen fish taxa were identified from a total NISP of 5091. The analysis of fish bones from Hopoate indicated an intensification of the fishery during the mid-Lapita period (2690-2390 cal BP). Past archaeological studies on Tongatapu have recorded a severe decrease in the availability of shellfish from the Fanga ‘Uta Lagoon, following the initial settlement of the island. The increased fishing efforts are possibly related to the decreasing availability of shellfish from the lagoon. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / This thesis explores fish use at the Hopoate site on Tongatapu, during the earliest periods of occupation in Tonga. The first inhabitants, the Lapita peoples, benefited from a mixed diet consisting of plant and marine foods. Archaeological evidence in Tonga and the Pacific Islands show intensive pressure on numerous native land and sea resources following initial settlement periods. The analysis of fish bones from this study recorded a high abundance of inshore reef fish, typical of most Lapita sites. Following the initial settlement period of the island, fishing efforts increased and a greater amount of fish were harvested. The intensification of the fishery over time may be related to a decline in shellfish harvested from the local lagoon. Overall, the results of this study indicate that the earliest inhabitants were heavily reliant on the local marine resources.

Yes / This is paper represents a long process of self-reflection and critique of prior work I have presented on decolonising zooarchaeology. Engaging with current discourse on the misuse and appropriation of decolonial theory, I instead propose a framework which promotes movement towards decolonisation without co-opting the terminology. Through this, I also propose some alterations and considerations to my original proposal from 2019.

Yes / The recent movement for the decolonisation of academia has, unsurprisingly, become the centre of much discourse within archaeology as a discipline. And it is completely warranted-archaeology, for all intents and purposes, has its origins rooted in the colonial expansion of Western/European nations, and is still struggling to address much of the problems that this destructive process has created: the repatriation of ancestors and artefacts, a booming trade of illegal antiquities, etc. However, sub-disciplines such as zooarchaeology, the study of animals within the archaeological record, have yet to be held under scrutiny. This paper argues that zooarchaeology, despite its presumed focus on non-human species, is indeed just as much of an anthropocentric discipline as any other field within archaeology, and requires a similar consideration of decolonisation. Research trends within zooarchaeology, such as the overt emphasis of functional and economical approaches to animal remains in the archaeological record, can be traced to a very Western/European capitalist reading of the past that perhaps obscures truths that may not adhere to the Western/European paradigm that much of archaeological interpretation utilises. In order to combat how entrenched colonialist ideals are within zooarchaeology, this paper suggests that the key to a decolonised approach lies within the paradigm in which we develop our interpretations, where Western/European animal-human relations are held as an unconscious standard by which all archaeological remains are held to and interpreted against. By adopting a wider worldview that is much more open to "unconventional" alternatives, perhaps zooarchaeologists can finally unlock the true potential of many of our bone assemblages.

This study explores the evidence for differences in foodways related to status among an enslaved community according to labor-based designations. Specifically, this paper investigates the interplay of a plantation provisioning system and slave responses to the imposed system through the study of faunal remains recovered from discrete slave quarters at James Madison's Montpelier plantation near Orange, Virginia during the so-called Retirement Period of James Madison, approximately encompassing the years A.D. 1810-1836. Through synthesis of data acquired by the author with that of previous investigators, this research reveals subtle variations in the ways in which the different labor groups at Montpelier negotiated the plantation hierarchy through differential access to and acquisition of meat resources within the constraints of the plantation setting. While higher positions within the plantation hierarchy, particularly in the case of the skilled laborers of the Stable Quarter, is inferred, further fine-grained examination of the material culture from the slave quarters at Montpelier is necessary to accurately identify the nuances of status and unravel the power structure at Montpelier.