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The curious case of bunnies: interpretation of the lagomorph index from Homol’ovi I, Room 733

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Abstract

Applications of lagomorph indices to faunal assemblages in the American Southwest have produced a complex series of hypotheses and explanations for the changing ratio between Sylvilagus (cottontail rabbits) and Lepus (jackrabbits) in the archaeological record. Archaeologists attribute shifts in the lagomorph index (LI) to variation in the natural environment, modification of the landscape by Native Americans, changes in human hunting behaviors, and depression of Lepus populations through differential hunting. Couched within the logic of human behavioral ecology (HBE), LI attempts to connect species representation to environmental change and human decision-making. The varied ecosystems, cultures, and environments of the American Southwest complicate this connection and make some interpretations better suited to different subregions. In this paper, we report results from the analysis of faunal remains from Room 733 at Homol’ovi I, an ancestral Hopi site near Winslow, Arizona. Room 733 dates to the Late Homol’ovi Phase (LHP) 1385–1400 but also includes dates from the Early Homol’ovi Phase (EHP) 1330–1365. We calculate the LI for both phases to evaluate different explanations for shifts in the LI relative to regional moisture patterns. We find that while most explanations for changing LI are interconnected, changing environmental moisture, human hunting behaviors, and depression of Lepus populations do not fully explain the shifting LI. We suggest that human niche construction provides the most satisfactory explanation for changing lagomorph representation in the assemblage from Homol’ovi Room 733.

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Notes

  1. Geographic coordinates for Homol’ovi I obtained from Google Earth: 35° 02' 15" N 110° 39' 48" W

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Acknowledgments

This project would not have been possible without the hard work and time put in by our dedicated student volunteers, including Kayla Adamiec, Helene Brown, Dan Collins, Alex Flannery, Andrea Garland, Toma Ghiran, Julia Hackett, Samson Keller, Justin Lake, Cristina Lugo, William Martin, Nikki Murray, Gillian Smith, Amadeus Toledo-Seitz, and Liz Young. The Arizona State Museum and the Stanley J. Olsen Zooarchaeology Lab were invaluable to our project by providing necessary resources to both analyze the faunal assemblages at Homol’ovi I and train student volunteers in methods of faunal analysis. Finally, we would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Britt Starkovich and Tiina Manne for organizing the SAA session, Do good things come in small packages? Human behavioral ecology and small game exploitation, and coordinating the publication of the articles presented in this special edition of the Journal of Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.

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  1. University of Arizona (School of Anthropology), Tucson, AZ, USA

    Kassi S. Bailey, Matthew J. Rowe & E. Charles Adams

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  1. Kassi S. Bailey
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  2. Matthew J. Rowe
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  3. E. Charles Adams
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Correspondence to Kassi S. Bailey.

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Bailey, K.S., Rowe, M.J. & Adams, E.C. The curious case of bunnies: interpretation of the lagomorph index from Homol’ovi I, Room 733. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 12, 136 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01089-z

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