Abstract
Data from early European-sponsored colonies on the coasts of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico in southeastern North America (USA) indicate that transformations in vertebrate use occurred quickly. Over half of the vertebrate individuals in a Spanish collection associated with the first permanent European settlement on the Atlantic coast (Florida), British collections associated with Charles Towne (South Carolina), and French collections from the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico (Alabama and Mississippi) are local wild vertebrates. This use of wild vertebrates occurred regardless of a colony’s national affiliation, the ethnicity of the colonists, or the century in which colonization occurred.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Kathleen Deagan of the Florida Museum of Natural History for the opportunity to study the Spanish Florida vertebrate assemblages, Bonnie L. Gums and the Center for Archaeological Studies at the University of South Alabama for the opportunity to study the French colonial materials, and Martha Zierden of The Charleston Museum for the opportunity to study materials from Charleston. We are grateful to Kevin S. Gibbons and Maran E. Little for their study of the La Pointe-Krebs materials and to Kelly L. Orr and Carol E. Colaninno-Meeks for their study of the Fountain of Youth Park materials. We also acknowledge the support of Brockington and Associates, The South Carolina State Park Service, the Historic Charleston Foundation, The Charleston Museum, The City of Charleston, the Donnelly Foundation, Magnolia Plantation Foundation, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Alabama Historical Commission, National Endowment for the Humanities (Interpretive Research Grant RO-22030), Andrew Agha, David Jones, Sarah G. Bergh, Elizabeth M. Scott, and Gifford Waters. We are particularly grateful to Terrance J. Martin and the anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 69th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference in 2012.
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Methods Vertebrate remains were identified following standard zooarchaeological methods. Invertebrates typically are not studied at these sites because molluscs were used as a building material (e.g., tabby) and it is difficult to consistently distinguish between architectural uses and dietary ones. Most of the identifications were made using the comparative skeletal collection of the Zooarchaeology Laboratory, Georgia Museum of Natural History (GMNH), University of Georgia, and the Center for Archaeological Studies, University of South Alabama. For all collections except those from Old Mobile and Dog River, the Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI) is estimated based on paired elements, size, and age and biomass is estimated using the allometric equation: Y = aX b. In this article, the term “individual” refers to MNI. The number of individuals is interpreted as a reflection of the frequency with which that resource was used. Biomass estimates are interpreted as evidence of dietary reliance. Deer, for example, might be a frequent dietary item, but not contribute large amounts of meat compared to other resources, which might not be slaughtered as frequently but, nonetheless, contribute larger quantities of meat. Species identified for all collections are summarized into wild, domestic, and commensal categories in order to contrast the percentages of various groups of taxa in each assemblage. Wild animals include sharks, rays, bony fishes, alligators, turtles, wild birds, and deer. Domestic animals include primarily pigs, cows, caprines, and chickens. Commensal taxa include animals such as frogs and toads (Anura), snakes (Serpentes), Eastern moles (Scalopus aquaticus), mice and rats (Sigmodontidae), dogs (Canis familiaris), cats (Felis catus), and horses or donkeys (Equus spp.; Reitz et al. 2010, p. 230; Zierden and Reitz 2009). Although commensal animals might be consumed, they are commonly found in close association with humans and their built environment as pets, vermin, or working animals. Just as some of the animals in the commensal category might have been consumed, some animals classified as wild animals might have been commensal. Commensal animals are included in the calculations reported here, though their values are not included in all of the figures. In order to make comparisons of MNI and biomass estimates possible, the figures use biomass estimates only for those taxa for which MNI is estimated. Readers should consult Reitz and Wing (2008) or Reitz et al. (2010) and references cited for additional information about these methods and categories.
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Reitz, E.J., Waselkov, G.A. Vertebrate Use at Early Colonies on the Southeastern Coasts of Eastern North America. Int J Histor Archaeol 19, 21–45 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-014-0280-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-014-0280-3