Zooarchaeological measures of resource intensification and depletion: Examples from eastern North America

The impact that increased human population size and agricultural intensification had on the prehistoric animal ecology of eastern North America is poorly understood. New methods for examining archaeologically recovered faunal remains permit a more detailed understanding of the interaction between humans and their environment. Techniques for the accurate estimation and comparison of age, size and sex parameters of prehistoric deer and raccoon populations are presented. Measurements include ageing by tooth eruption and wear, estimating deer weight based on osteological measurements of the astragalus, and determining raccoon sex based on canine tooth measurements. Combined examination of the age and size parameters of deer over time indicates that the population density and distribution of deer in the Late Prehistoric period was substantially impacted by human activity. This resource depletion is indicated by a decline in the presence of old individuals and an increase in body size in areas surrounding major Mississippian sites. Deer populations appear stable at distance from these sites and maintain the parameters of age and size seen in the Archaic period. An understanding of this variation over space and time is used to interpret the efficiency of various deer hunting techniques. Examination of the distribution of raccoon remains by sex at archaeological sites demonstrates targeted procurement by Late Prehistoric farmers. Intensified procurement of raccoon is revealed by an increased presence of males over time in archaeological samples, a good indication of deliberate trapping. Intensified procurement may relate to a crop protection effort; stable carbon isotope data from the Angel site suggest that raccoon and squirrel may have consumed sufficient quantities of maize to modify their d13C values.