10 - Analysis of Vertebrate Remains

Abstract

Vertebrate remains can provide important insights into the prehistoric systems of settlement and subsistence. A variety of factors affect observable characteristics of faunal assemblages, and in many cases, these factors can be isolated and used to reconstruct past life ways. Interpretations can be compared with predictions drawn from models to determine how well results conform to expectations. When discrepancies are found, there is a reason to question the models and to revise them to account for new observations. This chapter presents vertebrate remains from 11 archeological components in the Cannon Reservoir region. Samples date from the Late Archaic-Late Woodland periods and they provide an opportunity to document possible long-term changes in the patterns of vertebrate exploitation and to evaluate the potential effects of seasonal resource availability on settlement. Late Archaic groups appear to have followed a semisedentary life way in which warm season occupations, such as Cooper and Miskell, were abandoned about mid-autumn and cool season sites, such as, Pigeon Roost Creek, were occupied until early spring. At the same time, plant and animal species varied from season to season, either in abundance or in degree of accessibility. These changes are reflected in differing proportions of taxa within the warm and cool season vertebrate assemblages and suggest that procurement strategies took advantage of seasonal peaks in resource availability.