Jacob L. Fisher

Resource depression, climate change, and mountain sheep in the eastern Great Basin of western North America

Strontium, oxygen, and carbon stable isotope analysis may be used in conjunction with archaeofaunal data to identify resource depression by demonstrating that prey were obtained from more distant locations. We use fauna from Five Finger Ridge, a Fremont site in central Utah, to demonstrate that relative abundances of mountain sheep (Ovis canadensis) declined during a period of increased summer precipitation. Strontium ratio values from this period indicate that sheep were acquired from different locations than the preceding period. Specimens from this period also show a moderate increase in carbon ratio values, suggesting that mountain sheep were acquired from higher altitudes. Oxygen isotopes do not vary between temporal periods, possibly the result of the countering effects of higher oxygen isotope values associated with increased summer temperatures and lower oxygen isotope values present at higher elevations. Collectively, these data support that there were localized population declines of mountain sheep that may be related to either climatic changes or hunting pressure.

Faunal Quantification and the Ascendance of Hunting Debate: Reevaluation of the Data from Southeastern California

The debate regarding the underlying motivations for large game hunting in western North America has ensued in American Antiquity for over a decade. Empirical support for the original argument for costly signaling hunting by Hildebrandt and McGuire partly derived from a regional synthesis of faunal data from southeastern California that demonstrated a spike in artiodactyl hunting during the Middle Archaic. This spike is primarily driven by the faunal assemblage from a single, highelevation site located in the White Mountains of southeastern California. It was suspected that this anomaly was a reflection of analytical differences in taxonomic identifications among faunal analysts. Contrary to expectations, it was discovered that taxonomic identifications were conservative. Instead, the previously reported number of identified specimens for artiodactyls was calculated in a manner inconsistent with other analyses in the region. When corrected, the regional data show a pattern of faunal exploitation that is consistent with expectations derived from optimal foraging theory.

Shifting Prehistoric Abundances of Leporids at Five Finger Ridge, a Central Utah Archaeological Site

ABSTRACT. The faunal assemblage from Five Finger Ridge, an archaeological site in central Utah that was occupied by the Fremont from approximately AD 1100 to 1350, shows marked transitions in the relative abundances of 3 leporid taxa. At the time of initial occupation of the site, Sylvilagus audubonii and Lepus sp. dominated the assemblage but through time were gradually replaced by Sylvilagus nuttallii. I contextualized the shifting frequencies of these species using independent paleovegetation data. The data collectively suggest that the altitudinal range of the leporid species shifted during occupation of the site as a response to expanding pinyon-juniper woodlands.

CULINARY PROCESSING OF JACKRABBITS AT ANTELOPE CAVE, ARIZONA

Abstract The faunal assemblage from Antelope Cave, a Virgin Anasazi site located in northwestern Arizona, is dominated by jackrabbits (Lepus californicus). The excellent preservation of the assemblage allows for the development of inferences regarding acquisition, butchering, cooking, and consumption activities using patterns of fragmentation, burning, articulation, and skeletal part representation. The occupants of the site were maximizing the extraction of nutritional benefits from jackrabbits through a combination of roasting, stewing, marrow processing, and pulverizing methods. The data provide important insights for understanding the processing decisions made by prehistoric foragers in a region relatively devoid of fuel sources.

Influence of Bone Survivorship on Taxonomic Abundance Measures

Abundance indices are commonly used to test hypotheses formed under optimal foraging theory. Index values may be a reflection of foraging behavior, but analysts must first consider the influence of taphonomic processes that may vary across space, time, and taxa. Bone survivorship is expected to differ among taxa according to their nutritional value, bone density, how carcasses were processed, and their attractiveness to secondary consumers. Greater survivorship is expected for higher ranked resources when foraging efficiency declines due to increases in processing intensity that renders discarded bone less attractive to secondary scavengers. This in turn will potentially result in a greater number of specimens identified despite lower declines in large game hunting. I review spatial and temporal differences in bone attrition at Five Finger Ridge, a Fremont period (ca. AD 400–1300) site located in the eastern Great Basin, USA. Relative taxonomic abundance is largely explained by density-mediated destruction and cannot be taken as an accurate reflection of human behavior, such as hunting efficiency among households or across time at this particular site. This finding demonstrates the importance of accounting for variation in density-mediated destruction among multiple species before any human behavioral inferences are formed from taxonomic diversity measures.