32749
Title Of Article Chaper
Prehistoric diet in the northern Southwest: macroplant remains from Four Corners feces
Title Of Journal Book
American antiquity: a quarterly review of American archaeology
Volume
54
Issue
3
Pages
543-563
Collation
9 figs., 2 tables
Reference Bibliography
refs.
ISSN
0002-7316
Language Of Text
English;Spanish
Language Of Summary
English;Spanish
Literature Type
Serial
Literature Level
Analytic
Abstract
A large corpus of data on plant remains from prehistoric feces yields patterns of prehistoric Four Corners Anasazi diet. A general stability of plant-food consumption continues from at least the Basketmaker III through Pueblo III periods, with corn being the one consistently common fecal remain. Other agricultural plantsmboth crops and weedsmare important throughout the region. There is temporal and spatial variation in the types and abundance of macroplant remains recovered from these feces. Temporally distinct assemblages from the same study area are more similar than contemporary assemblages from different areas. This indicates the importance of the local resource structure (both natural and human maintained) as a major factor influencing dietary composition, even within a relatively small region such as Four Corners of the northern Southwest.
Keywords
prehistoric;diet;USA (Southwest-- Four Corners);feces;plants; coprolites; Anasazi;Native American;paleodiet;corn
pub_id
32749