What Makes a Dog? Stable Isotope Analysis and Human-canid Relationships at Arroyo Hondo Pueblo

Abstract

Domesticated animals in the prehispanic American Southwest/Mexican Northwest functioned in many roles, but these roles seem to have varied across time and space. In this study, we use bone collagen and apatite carbon (d 13 C col/ap ) and nitrogen (d 15 N) stable isotopes to investigate the role(s) of seven canids from Arroyo Hondo Pueblo (LA 12), a 14 th century site in the northern Rio Grande, New Mexico. Results indicate that in some cases, coyotes seem to have been treated like dogs; in others, dogs seem to have been treated like their wild relatives. In all cases, canids were treated differently than domestic turkeys. We conclude that ethnographic, genetic, geochemical and site-specific contextual data are required to understand the roles of dogs and wild canids in Ancestral Puebloan contexts.Social Media: New isotopic data, combined with previously published provenience and aDNA information, suggest different classifications of canids by Ancestral Puebloans at Arroyo Hondo Pueblo.

Testing for Mississippian Period Turkey Management in the Archaeological Record of the Southeastern United States

“…Given that coyotes expanded into the Southeast in recent times (Hody and Kays 2018), the canids are likely dogs or wolves. Regardless of subspecies, δ 13 C can be used as a proxy for human interaction or management with C 3 -based diets expected in wild canids and more C 4 -based diets in tame or domesticated canids (Monagle et al 2018).…”

Biological and cultural history of domesticated dogs in the Americas

“…Heppenheimer et al (2018) reported a genetic signal of the extinct red wolves (Canis rufus Audubon & Bachman, 1851) in a living wild population of Canis familiaris in Galveston, Texas. Monagle et al (2018) studied the diet of several archaeological specimens in Arroyo Hondo Pueblo (Mexico) through isotopes, finding an overlap in the diet of domestic dogs and wild coyotes, what may have resulted from similarity in the contacts to human settlements. These facts could suggest integration of wild canids in human society and their domestic dogs and/or commensal behavior of wild coyotes.…”

Ancient Faunal History Revealed by Interdisciplinary Biomolecular Approaches

“…Firstly, modern genomic [173,174] and combined modern and aDNA studies [175] showed signs of selection on genes related to lipid or starch metabolism, behaviour, brain function, and immunity. Secondly, δ 13 C, δ 15 N, and N( 34 S)/N( 32 S) (representing the ratio for sulphur, abbreviated herein as δ 34 S) analyses of Stone Age [176,177] and Medieval [178][179][180] canid remains, have found isotopic signatures suggesting control of dogs' dietary intake and their differential treatment food-wise.…”