Animal Husbandry and Colonial Adaptive Behavior: Isotopic Insights from the La Belle Shipwreck Fauna

Abstract

Changing social and economic practices had an important role for human adaptive strategies in colonial contexts and sometimes had profound consequences for emerging societies. This study uses insights from stable-isotope analyses, as well as other historical and archaeological evidence, to investigate the social and economic roles of French animal husbandry as an adaptive strategy for the settlers taking part in La Salle’s famous expedition (1684–1688) to colonize the mouth of the Mississippi River. Stable carbon- and nitrogen-isotope analyses of pig bones and other faunal remains from the shipwreck, La Belle, and associated Fort Saint Louis on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico are used to evaluate specific historical accounts of colonists’ animal-husbandry practices and show that a large swine population was sustained primarily on meat from local hunting activities. In this context it is argued that, although the substantial efforts involved in raising pigs mainly on other animal products seemingly makes little economic sense, there are social explanations for what initially appears to be irrational behavior. This study provides an example of how stable-isotope analyses of animal-husbandry practices can contribute to understanding social processes through historical archaeology.