ZOOARCHAEOLOGICAL MEASURES OF RESOURCE INTENSIFICATION AND DEPLETION: EXAMPLES FROM EASTERN NORTH AMERICA Rexford C. Garniewicz Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Anthropology Indiana University December, 2005 Accepted by the Graduate Faculty, Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Doctoral Committee __________________________ Patrick J. Munson __________________________ Della C. Cook October 13, 2005 __________________________ Greg A. Olyphant __________________________ Christopher S. Peebles ii © 2005 Rexford C. Garniewicz ALL RIGHTS RESERVED iii Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to William Richard Adams, whose devotion and interest in zooarchaeology served as a model for many students, including myself. Born in 1923, Dick began his lifelong interest in animal remains while a student at Indiana University, receiving his undergraduate degree in zoology and his graduate degree in anthropology. His master’s thesis (Adams 1949) on animal remains from the Angel site is one of the first extensive faunal reports from the midwestern United States. Dick continued his association with Anthropology department from 1955 to 2002, tirelessly collecting and processing specimens. Over the course of his life he amassed one of the largest collections of comparative skeletons in a university setting. Yet, it is not merely his accomplishments and dedication, but more his sense of humor and kind nature, which set him apart from many. That his students, and a long list of volunteers, would de-flesh and process carcasses that had passed their peak, stands as testament to his likeable personality. The road-kill cookouts he had at his house, and even `chewing the fat’ in his lab, built a strong sense of friendship among many students and faculty in the department. Dick fully supported all of my work and gave me space and supplies for processing specimens in his lab asking nothing in return (except that one time I had to pick up a tapir from Detroit in my Chevy Nova). Without his assistance in providing me comparative specimens, facilities for processing new specimens, and the occasional help with specimen identification, I would not have been able to complete much of the work I have done during my time at IU. Dick Adams will always be remembered and appreciated by his many students. iv Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge all the assistance I have received from Patrick Munson over the years. He stimulated my ability to think critically and to come up with practical methodologies for resolving archaeological questions. His emphasis on actualistic studies was essential to my graduate career. During my work with him in the field I learned a great deal about archaeology, interpreting sedimentary sequences, and the value of coring. I appreciate his editing and will forever remember the proper use of the semicolon. Christopher Peebles provided me with financial and collegial support during my tenure at the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archeology. By pulling together a group of specialists at the lab he created an environment where archaeological theory and method meshed. Opportunity to work independently on research and to run summer field projects advanced me professionally. Now that I am off on my own, I recognize how important this interaction was. The other two members of my committee, Della Cook and Greg Olyphant were equally informing presences. Della, with her infinite knowledge about teeth (as well as other things), caused me to delve into examining the raccoon dentition. I have found that teeth are as interesting as they are complex and I will continue my studies well past this dissertation. Greg Olyphant provided me with the insight of a second discipline, including the proper ways of describing and interpreting soils in the field. Outside of my committee, Mark Schurr, Bob McCullough, Cheryl Munson, Brian Redmond, Bret Ruby, Diane Warren and Steve Ball all assisted me in my development as an archaeologist and provided support at various stages of this dissertation. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Amy Locklin, for her help, support, encouragement and understanding throughout the dissertation process. v Rexford C. Garniewicz ZOOARCHAEOLOGICAL MEASURES OF RESOURCE INTENSIFICATION AND DEPLETION: EXAMPLES FROM EASTERN NORTH AMERICA Abstract: 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 vi Table of Contents Chapter Subject Page Title page i Acceptance page ii Copyright page iii Dedication iv Acknowledgments v Abstract vi Table of contents vii List of tables viii List of figures ix List of appendices x 1 Introduction to Resource Intensification and Depletion 1 Chronology 3 Previous approaches 5 New directions 11 2 Relative Abundance Measures and Exploitation Intensity 16 Methodology 18 Optimal Modeling 22 Results 30 Discussion 35 3 Prehistoric White-tailed Deer Exploitation 41 White-tailed deer biology and ecology 41 Methods 50 Data 61 Analysis 70 Discussion 83 4 Prehistoric Raccoon Exploitation 86 Raccoon biology and ecology 87 Methods 89 Mortality data, analysis and discussion 100 Sex data, analysis and discussion 104 5 The Effects of Maize Agriculture on Prehistoric Hunting 111 Deer and raccoon hunting 106 Stable carbon isotopes 122 6 Conclusions 125 Bibliography 135 vii List of Tables Table Number Title Page 2.1 USDA nutritional data on wild mammals 24 2.2 Hypothetical ranking of common mammals 24 2.3 MNI/NISP correction factors for mammals 27 2.4 Optimal foraging data converted to NISP ratios 29 2.5 Relative abundance of small, medium, and large mammals 31 2.6 Relative abundance of various species through time 32 2.7 Corrected NISP ratios of key species 33 2.8 Intensity of exploitation of key species through time 34 3.1 Tooth eruption sequence for white-tailed deer 43 3.2 Descriptions of white-tailed deer tooth wear 44 3.3 Key to measurements of the deer astragalus 56 3.4 Equations for estimating missing astragalus measurements 57 3.5 Regressions for correcting astragalus measurements 59 3.6 Sites used in analyses of deer mortality profiles 63 3.7 Mortality profiles of deer from eastern North America 64 3.8 Sites used in analyses of deer size 66 3.9 Descriptive statistics on male astragalus measurements 67 3.10 Descriptive statistics on female astragalus measurements 68 3.11 Deer body weight from corrected measurements 69 3.12 Deer body weight from individuals in this study 69 3.13 Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests on deer mortality profiles 70 3.14 Percentage representation of age classes by culture-period 70 3.15 Mean weight of deer by culture period 73 3.16 PEL age classes for sites sorted by male body weight 75 3.17 Mortality profiles and size for 18 sites in this study 76 3.18 Means and SDs of male and female deer weight, this study 80 4.1 Wear stages proposed by Grau et al. (1970) 91 4.2 Raccoon age profiles from the Snodgrass site using Grau et al. 92 4.3 Raccoon age profiles from the Angel site using Grau et al. 93 4.4 Wear stages of raccoon mandibular dentition 95 4.5 Raccoon age profiles from Angel site (Garniewicz 2000) 98 4.6 Hypothetical relationship between wear-stages and age 99 4.7 Age classes from sites using Grau et.al. (1970) 100 4.8 Age classes of raccoon using Garniewicz (2000) 103 4.9 Sex distribution of archaeological raccoon remains 105 4.10 Width measurements of raccoon lower canines 105 viii List of Figures Figure Number Title Page 3.1 Deer mandible with deciduous dentition 42 3.2 Deer mandible with adult dentition 43 3.3 Actual age and sex distribution of a deer population 48 3.4 Theoretical age and sex distribution of a deer population 49 3.5 Key to astragalus measurements