Hunter‐gatherer use of small animal food resources: coprolite evidence

Abstract

Faunal remains are commonly found in coprolites and provide direct evidence of animal consumption. An evaluation of hunter‐gatherer coprolites from the Southwest US shows that animal bone in coprolites can be used to assess patterns of hunting, food preparation, and general importance of small animals in diet. This is demonstrated by a comparison of faunal assemblages between two hunter‐gatherer sites with respect to small animal hunting strategies. The sites are Dust Devil Cave on the Colorado Plateau, an Archaic winter habitation, and Hinds Cave, a warm season Archaic habitation in the lower Pecos of Texas. The results indicate that small animal hunting varied regionally and seasonally. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Prehistoric earth oven facilities and the pathoecology of Chagas disease in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands

“…This web of infection was complicated by the consumption of woodrats, one of the definitive hosts of T. cruzi in nature. Reinhard et al (2007) showed that woodrats were a preferred food in the Lower Pecos. Consumption of woodrats infected with T. cruzi would have resulted in human contraction of Chagas disease.…”

“…As reviewed by Reinhard et al, (2003Reinhard et al, ( & 2007, woodrat bones are represented in coprolite and midden studies. Indeed, 18 of 100 coprolites from Hinds Cave had identifiable woodrat bone.…”

“…Archaeology shows a long pathoecological association of humans with reservoir hosts (Reinhard et al, 2007). The previous discovery of a mummy infected with T. cruzi was of significance in demonstrating that Chagas disease was a prehistoric zoonosis of the Lower Pecos region.…”

“…Woodrats would have been the main T. cruzi reservoir host without humans. In Archaic times, woodrats were a common food source for prehistoric people (Reinhard et al, 2007). This indicates that humans were reducing the numbers of reservoir hosts by predation while expanding the domestic triatomine habitat by accumulating vegetation and rocks close to or within human habitations.…”

Food, parasites, and epidemiological transitions: A broad perspective

“…The reliance on small animals for food in the Americas is borne out by zooarchaeological analysis of coprolites (Reinhard, 1992b(Reinhard, , 2008Reinhard et al, 2007). Ancient diets of the Southwest consistently included small vertebrates .…”