Meat Consumption and Bone Use in a Mississippian Village

Zeder, Melinda A.; Arter, Susan R.

doi:10.1007/978-0-387-71303-8_17

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…According to Muller (1987, p. 21), true specialists and the production of staple finance appear to be absent from Mississippian society; however, in some cases the elites were able to use their political leverage to acquire and consume better-quality meat and a greater variety of foodstuffs Scott 1995, 2003;Kelly 2001;Pauketat et al 2002;Welch and Scarry 1995). In other settings the animals and portions of animals that villagers consumed were similar, showing little distinction (Zeder and Arter 1996). Commandeering the best for oneself or your lineage is not simply a reflection of wealth, status, or prestige but denotes political power.…”

Section: Zooarchaeology and Political Economymentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Food sharing by members of different social classes in the same household is difficult to identify (Pendergast 2004; see also Marshall 1993). And the identification of food sharing across households requires meticulous lab analysis and cross-mending of bones from different contexts, as shown by Zeder and Arter (1996) in their analysis of faunal remains from a Mississippian village. Most dietary bone refuse accumulates over a long period of time with no way of discerning how much time passed and how many persons contributed to the deposit (Pendergast 2004).…”

Section: Heuristic Obstacles In the Archaeological Identification Of mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Zooarchaeology in Complex Societies: Political Economy, Status, and Ideology

deFrance

2009

J Archaeol Res

152

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The zooarchaeology of complex societies provides insights into the interrelated social and economic relationships that people and animals created. I present a synthesis of zooarchaeological research published since the early 1990s that addresses political economy, status distinctions, and the ideological and ritual roles of animals in complex cultures. I address current approaches and applications as well as theoretical shifts in zooarchaeological practice. Research indicates there is great variability across space and time in how past peoples used animals to generate economic surplus, to establish status differentiation within societies, and to create symbolic meaning through sacrifices, offerings, and in feasts. The study of human/animal interactions in complex societies can contribute to fundamental questions of broad relevance regarding political and social life.

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Section: Zooarchaeology and Political Economymentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Heuristic Obstacles In the Archaeological Identification Of mentioning

confidence: 99%

Zooarchaeology in Complex Societies: Political Economy, Status, and Ideology

deFrance

2009

J Archaeol Res

152

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“…Numerous methods and approaches to quantification have been invented, developed, and continuously modified for the measure of relative abundance of diverse species excavated from archaeological sites. Discussions regarding these methods are still ongoing (e.g., Bökönyi 1970;Cannon 2001;Casteel 1977; Cruz-Uribe and Klein 1986;Fieller and Turner 1982;Grayson 1973;1979;Horton 1984;Lyman 2008;Marshall, F. and Pilgram 1993;Payne 1972a;Ringrose 1993;Thomas 1969;Uerpmann 1973;Vermeij and Herbert 2004;Watson 1979;White, Theodore 1952;1953a;Zeder and Arter 2008). It should be mentioned here that the measures resulting from these methods are not absolute ones.…”

Section: Methods Of Quantificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Zooarchaeological Study of the Haimenkou Site, Yunnan Province, China

Wang¹

2018

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This thesis is based on an analysis of the faunal assemblage recovered from the Haimenkou site during the 2008 field season in Yunnan Province, China. It aims to investigate the human-animal relationships at Haimenkou through a time span from the late Neolithic Period to the middle Bronze Age (ca. 5000-2400 B.P.). The animal exploitation patterns, local animal domestication processes, human subsistence strategies, and communication networks linking Haimenkou and other regions in prehistoric China are studied. Around 2,800 specimens (bone fragments) were recovered during the 2008 excavation season. A total of 1,791 specimens, weighing approximately 54 kg, were identified to a taxonomic level. Of these identified specimens, more than 50 percent were from domestic animals. Detailed faunal analyses mainly focused on range and relative importance of identified taxa, skeletal part representation, bone modification, and kill-off patterns for domestic animals. The results of this study suggest that domestic pigs and dogs arrived at Haimenkou with their keepers during the late Neolithic Period (ca. 5000-3800 B.P.). Domestic sheep or goats were introduced to Haimenkou from northwestern China in the early Bronze Age (ca. 3700-3200 B.P.). After inhabiting Haimenkou, people developed a mixed subsistence economy, consisting of rice, millet, and wheat multi-cropping, plant food gathering, animal husbandry, hunting, and fishing. They hunted numerous animal taxa, mainly including the gaur and different cervids. Both animal husbandry and hunting techniques improved considerably through time, especially between the late Neolithic Period and the early Bronze Age. In addition, cultural communication and human migration occurring between Haimenkou and other regions in prehistoric China, such as northwestern China (Qinghai and Gansu Provinces), Sichuan Province, Tibet, and the middle Lancang River Valley in southwestern Yunnan, were reflected in the assemblage of animal remains recovered from Haimenkou. I am grateful to many people for help, both direct and indirect, in writing this dissertation. My deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to my supervisors, Professor Li Liu, Associate Professor Richard Cosgrove, and Professor Tim Murray, for their guidance and constant supervision. I feel lucky to have met Professor Li Liu in China. She first gave me the precious opportunity to begin my PhD candidature at La Trobe University in Australia. It was also Professor Liu who provided me with another precious opportunity to attend Stanford University in the USA as a visiting scholar to finish writing my dissertation. She has walked me through all the stages of the writing of this dissertation. Without her consistent and illuminating instruction, this dissertation would not have reached its present form. I would also like to thank Associate Professor Richard Cosgrove. Although he was very busy teaching and excavating, he still gave me a lot of valuable advice in terms of zooarchaeological analysis, as well as in written English. Deepest grati...

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“…The greatest accumulations of fauna at large Mississippian sites are found in or around houses (e.g. Zeder & Arter 1996), on the slopes of mounds (e.g. Jackson & Scott 2003;Smith & Williams 1994), and in large pits beneath or adjacent to mounds (e.g.…”

Section: Faunal Deposition In Mississippian Contextsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ritualized Deposition and Feasting Pits: Bundling of Animal Remains in Mississippi Period Florida

Wallis¹,

Blessing²

2015

CAJ

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Interactions with the bodies of hunted animals often follow prescriptions pertaining to social relationships among human and non-human persons. Despite this, deposits of archaeological food remains are seldom considered in terms of deliberate placement, instead serving primarily as reflections of preparation and consumption activities. The residues of feasts, in particular, are often highlighted as indexes of special consumption events, although such salient occasions might also be expected to highlight ritualized depositional practices as well. This study reconsiders the archaeological residues of feasts through the vantage of a fauna-filled pit in late Pre-Columbian Florida. Most of the contents of the feature correlate with a large feast, but the structure of the deposit and inclusion of specific elements reflects scrupulous emplacement. Drawing on North American relational ontologies, we explore the idea that this pit feature was created as a deliberate bundle, the result of an intentional act of interment that was concerned with positioning its contents in ways that manifested and shaped various relationships.

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Meat Consumption and Bone Use in a Mississippian Village

Cited by 6 publications

References 11 publications

Zooarchaeology in Complex Societies: Political Economy, Status, and Ideology

Zooarchaeology in Complex Societies: Political Economy, Status, and Ideology

A Zooarchaeological Study of the Haimenkou Site, Yunnan Province, China

Ritualized Deposition and Feasting Pits: Bundling of Animal Remains in Mississippi Period Florida

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