People, Plants, and Animals

 For week 7 in ANT2100 we discussed People, Plants and Animals in the Past.  The discussion began with defining Faunal Assemblage, the animal remains recovered from an archaeological site.  The example of this used were the butchered dogs located in Jamestown possible from the "Starving Time" winter of 1609-1610 where 3/4 of the colonists perished.  Zooarchaeology is the study of these animal remains excavated from an archaeological site. The goal of zooarchaeology is to understand the relationship between humans and their environment, especially humans and other animal populations. The example used was the Mesoamerican civilizations using the Jaguar in many important religious practices.  Faunal Analysis is the identification and interpretation of animal remain and a Comparative Collection is a skeletal collection used to make identification of archaeofaua.  We discussed the Oakland Hotel that was popular in the early 20th Century, and the properties archaeology analysis found Faunal Assemblage of multiple different fish species that anglers were targeting in Lake Apopka.  We concluded the discussion with Palynology, the study of plant pollen/spores/micorscopic plankton.

I enjoyed this lecture because we have been able to do some hands on work with Faunal Assemblage and Zooarchaeology at the Captain's Corner site.  This weekend we continued in the backyard were we located bones that were probably porcine, possibly related to what the residents were consuming. Another team located a large wooden beam that some believed may have been a structural support for a home.  After pulling a small portion of splinters from it, there was defiantly a chemical/creosote smell. We had a dry lab for anthropology club, cataloging more artifacts from the West house and we finished the week with a class lab cleaning artifacts from Captain's Corner. The weather looks like it will not be cooperating for Saturday and we may have to cancel the dig, more to follow.......

Located at Captain's Corner, .32 A.C.P (Automatic Colt Pistol) casing U.M.C began manufacturing around the time the current house was built. 

It was possibly fired from this handgun, a Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless.  This was a popular self defense firearm in the early 1900's that was easily concealed in a vest pocket. The .32 A.C.P. was specifically created for this firearm.        

These are the two articles that I reviewed for this assignment:   

Could Mammoth Bones Reveal When Humans First Arrived in North America?

Cosier, S. (2019, May 16) Could Mammoth Bones Reveal When Humans First Arrived in North America? https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/mammoth-bones-north-america/

 This article was interesting, in that it began with a paleontologist testing ancient refrigeration methods by submerging a horse carcass in a pond and periodically tasting it to see how long it would last.  He wanted to test a 10,000 year old method used around the Great Lakes region during the end of the Pleistocene and the people of that time would have used the glacial pools to preserve mastodon. In addition to testing this theory, Fisher also tested the tools and techniques that may have been used to process the animals for food.  He even got a hold of a elephant carcass and used ancient tools and techniques to butcher the animal.

His finding gave him an estimation of how long it would take one man to butcher a full sized elephant, in this case it took three days.  He was able to compare the tool marks he left on the bones with tool marks found on mastodon bones.  I have respect for this person and the lengths he is willing to go to prove his theories.  Butchering a full grown elephant is one thing, but butchering on that has been exhumed has to be on a whole new level with decomposition setting in, etc.  He was even the first person to discover that mammoth and mastodon tusk are like trees and actually record daily growth.  

What Clam Thermometers Tell Us About Past Climates

Goldfield, A. (2018, May 24) What Clam Thermometers Tell Us About Past Climates https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/butter-clams-alaska-indigenous/

This article discusses how a geologist is using Butter Clams to understand human behavior thousands of years ago.  She is conducting research or Alaska's island of Unalaska, an inland in the Aleutian chain, to try and determine past climates.  These clams, like any bivalve, filter the water.  In the warmer months in these Alaskan waters, an algae blooms that can be toxic even in small doses.  But, even with this risk present, hundreds of butter clam shells show up in midden sites on Unalaska.  This perhaps suggests that these waters were colder at the time,  preventing the blooms of algae.  Another part of her research is measuring the carbon and oxygen isotopes from the clam shells and comparing them to measurements from current clams to determine what the temperature was. 

  I found this interesting, because during my adventures to the Arctic we spent a lot of time on Unalaska, specifically Dutch Harbor.  I wonder is our local clams and oysters here in Bay County absorb the same isotopes that would allow us to determine what the temperatures were like thousands of years ago.  We risk deadly toxins in our shell fish as well, hence the old adage "Don't eat oysters in months that don't end with "r".  Did the people who lived here know this, or was the water temperature lower year round where they didn't have to worry about it?

 

Pets or pelts: Cat fur exploitation in medieval Portugal

Pires, E. (2024, September) Pets or pelts: Cat fur exploitation in medieval Portugal https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104664

 This article discusses archaeological excavations in Almada, Portugal from the Late Middle Ages.  Items found in the middens or storage pits included a unique collection of cat bones from the 12-13th century.  There were a total of 13 individuals identified, and cut marks on the assemlage denote that the animals were skinned.  This is possible the first evidence of fur exploitation in medieval Portugal.  Even though it is still unclear if the cats were breed for this purpose or ferrel, having found fox skeletal remains in the same pit suggests they were indeed being used for their fur.  

If the Egyptians breed cats to be mummified as guides to the afterlife, it is not that far fetched that to believe that cats could be breed for the fur trade.  There is evidence that cat fur was already being exploited in Northern Europe and Spain, and was also mentioned in Portuguese documents.  I found it interesting that researchers can use the cutmarks on bones to determine if they were being consumed for food or if they were being used for their pelts.