Assessing diet and seasonality in the Lower Pecos canyonlands: an evaluation of coprolite specimens as records of individual dietary decisions

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Abstract

This article presents an evaluation of coprolite specimens from the Lower Pecos canyonlands as records of individual dietary decisions. Prior studies of coprolites from this region have greatly expanded our knowledge of Archaic subsistence patterns, but have not taken full advantage of the record of individual dietary decisions recorded in each coprolite specimen. The menu, or dietary combinations, reflected in individual coprolite specimens are assessed through the identification of several congruent botanical components derived from the same food resource, phytoliths, fiber ultimates, and epidermal sheets. The data is analyzed with hierarchical cluster analysis, an exploratory statistical technique. The resultant menus reflected in these clusters are evaluated with reference to a diet-breadth model developed for the known staple resources of the canyonlands.

Three main menus are apparent in the specimens. The first menu consists of prickly pear (Opuntia sp.) cladodes, or nopales, and was principally, although not exclusively, consumed in the late spring. This menu is primarily consumed when other resources were not readily available and may be considered a dependable but undesirable meal. The second menu consists of pit-baked lechuguilla (Agave lechuguilla) and sotol (Dasylirion sp.) caudices, or hearts, common throughout the cool season. This menu entails high processing costs, but would provide a reliable caloric return. The third menu exhibits a monolithic reliance on prickly pear fruits, or tunas, during the summer. The ease of harvest and consumption is reflected in the seasonal dominance of this resource, which was assuredly a highly desirable meal. The dietary patterns recorded in the coprolite specimens from the Lower Pecos canyonlands demonstrate a seasonally variable diet-breadth that incorporated low-ranked resources during times of seasonal scarcity as well as a monolithic dependence on high-ranked resources when they were available in the local landscape.

Highlights

► Application of diet-breadth models to coprolite data from Hinds Cave. ► Coprolites represent temporally discrete sets of individual behavior. ► Diets were seasonally variable but included a limited suite of staple resources.

Section snippets

Optimal foraging theory and diet-breadth models

A number of scholars have addressed the limitations of applying human behavioral ecology, specifically optimal foraging theory, to archaeological data sets (Gremillion, 2002, Murray, 2002, Yesner, 1985). The primary limitation in applying optimal foraging theory to archaeological data is an aspect of the data itself. Direct testing of diet-breadth models requires data of individual behavioral decisions (Winterhalder and Smith, 2000). The archaeological record cannot generally meet this

Hinds Cave excavation

Hinds Cave is a large limestone solution cave in the west wall of Still Canyon, approximately one-half kilometer above the confluence with the Pecos River (Shafer and Bryant, 1977). This east-facing overhang is located very high on the canyon wall and is difficult to access. Hinds Cave is located in the sotol-lechuguilla zone of the Chihuahuan biotic province within close proximity of the ecotonal boundary between this province and the oak-cedar zone of the Balconian biotic province to the east

Materials and methods

This section provides an overview of the components recovered from the thirty coprolite specimens included in this study and the methods used to accurately identify them. The first section reviews the development of reference collections for several of the major constituents recovered in many of the specimens. The development of these reference collections was a necessary step in fully evaluating the dietary components recovered. The following section reports on the laboratory procedures used

Results

The categorized macrofossil data of the thirty specimens are presented in Table 6, Table 7, Table 8. These data include plant, animal, and inorganic components recovered from each specimen. Fiber is the dominant component in almost every specimen (Table 6). Epidermal tissues of all four of the staple resources discussed throughout this research were identified and range in importance from trace to dominant component of individual specimens (Table 6). Epidermal tissues from a grass and at least

Discussion

The data from the current study expands prior dietary reconstructions for the Lower Pecos canyonlands. This discussion focuses on seasonality and diet-breadth interpretations of the clusters generated in this study. Overall, the data generated and synthesized herein suggest that a diet-breadth model using caloric return as the currency does not fully explain the seasonal dependence on low-ranked resources such as nopales and onion bulbs. The coprolite data corroborate the strong dependence on

Conclusion

Evaluating coprolites as the direct record of individual dietary choices over a short temporal window provides an excellent framework to assess the diet-breadth, seasonality of deposition and menus observed in past human subsistence patterns. There are three major seasonal menus reflected in the coprolite data. The first menu consists of nopales, and was principally, although not exclusively, consumed in the late spring. This menu is primarily consumed when other resources were not readily

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