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Recognition of the role of animals in ancient diet, economy, politics, and ritual is vital to understanding ancient cultures fully, while following the clues available from animal remains in reconstructing environments is vital to understanding the ancient relationship between humans and the world around them. In response to the growing interest in the field of zooarchaeology, The Archaeology of Mesoamerican Animals presents current research from across the many cultures and regions of Mesoamerica, dealing specifically with the most current issues in zooarchaeological literature. Geographically, the essays collected here index the different aspects of animal use by the indigenous populations of the entire area between the northern borders of Mexico and the southern borders of lower Central America. This includes such diverse cultures as the north Mexican hunter-gatherers, the Olmec, Maya, Mixtec, Zapotec, and Central American Indians. The time frame of the volume extends from the earliest human occupation, the Preclassic, Classic, Postclassic, and Colonial manifestations, to recent times. The book's chapters, written by experts in the field of Mesoamerican zooarchaeology, provide important general background on the domestic and ritual use of animals in early and classic Mesoamerica and Central America, but deal also with special aspects of human-animal relationships such as early domestication and symbolism of animals, and important yet otherwise poorly represented aspects of taphonomy and zooarchaeological methodology.
List of Figures
List of Tables
Abbreviations
1. Introduction
Northwest Area and Central Plateau
2. Dog Remains from the Marismas Nacionales
3. Coastal Resources in the City of the Gods
4. Birds of the Pre-Hispanic Domestic Spheres of Central Mexico
5. The Zooarchaeology of Olmec and Epi-Olmec Foodways along Mexico's Gulf Coast
6. Animal Use in the Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca, Mexico
7. Animal Economies in Pre-Hispanic Southern Mexico
Northern Maya Lowlands
8. The Use of Animals by the Pre-Hispanic Maya of the Northern Lowlands
9. Animal Consumption and the Monumental Center of Mayapan
10. Archaeofauna at Isla Cilvituk, Campeche, Mexico: Residential Site Structure and Taphonomy in Postclassic Mesoamerica
Southern Maya Lowlands and Maya Highlands
11. Inferring the Archaeological Context through Taphonomy: The Use of the White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Chinikiha, Chiapas
12. Late-Nineteenth and Early Twentieth-Century Animal Use by San Pedro Maya and the British Populations at Holotunich, Belize
13. Archaeological Animals of the Southern Maya Highlands: Zooarchaeology of Kaminaljuya
Mesoamerica's Southern Neighbors
14. Preliminary Analysis of the Zooarchaeology of the San Christobel Site, Nicaragua: The Bounty of Mohammed's Paradise
15. Molluscs as Food in a Prolific Coastal Environment: Evidence for Selective Foraging and Taphonomy from Cueva de los Vampiros (Central Panama)
16. Pre-Columbian Exploitation of Birds around Panama Bay
17. Crawling and Walking at the Same Time: Challenges in "Animal Archaeology" in Northern South America
Taxonomic Reviews of Mesoamerican Fauna
18. The Dog in the Mexican Archaeozoological Record
19. Bats in Ancient Mesoamerica
20. Conclusion: From Zooarchaeological Remains to a Human Context
References Cited
List of Contributors
Subject Index
Index of Places
Taxonomic Index
Digital Companion
Christopher M. Götz is Profesor-Investigador (lecturer & researcher), Facultad de Ciencias Antropologicas, Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan. Kitty F. Emery is Associate Curator of Environmental Archaeology, Florida Museum of Natural History.
"A must for those interested in the interaction of human and animals in Mesoamerica or elsewhere. An excellent and balanced selection of topics by outstanding researchers."
– Guillermo L. Mengoni Goñalons, Instituto de Arqueología, FFyL-UBA
" [...] an ambitious, panregional review of complex relationships between people and animals derived from the rich Mesoamerican cultural and archaeological record. The result is a valuable reference tool demonstrating how much we have learned over the past few decades and how much more we need to know; not only here, but elsewhere."
– Elizabeth J. Reitz, University of Georgia
"The application of traditional and new quantification methods, ecological modelling, and cutting edge scientific techniques to complex archaeological questions and animal bone assemblages unique in their preservational and taxonomic characteristics, makes this an essential and inspiring reference for specialists world-wide."
– Polydora Baker, Senior Zooarchaeologist, English Heritage, Heritage Conservation
"This book is an outstanding example of new approaches to the study of relationships between humans and animals. Recent research, contemporary concerns, and new methodologies are addressed in 18 chapters, an introduction, and a conclusion. In addition, this volume provides important resources, such as a digital companion and a useful taxonomic index."
– Ximena Chávez Balderas, Latin American Antiquity
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