2025/04/03 by Kimberly Sheets · 1 voice
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Social Sciences · #Archaeology and Rock Art Studies #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
paper · doi:10.1080/00231940.2025.2490379
openalex publication_date 2025/04/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/14
Researchers are increasingly interested in the social nature of faunal deposition as it relates to social organization and religion. It is often assumed that fauna used for ritual purposes will primarily occur in ceremonial contexts, while subsistence fauna will occur in secular contexts. Using syntheses of Pueblo ethnography, this paper evaluates the relationship between the ritual or subsistence animals and the room types in which they were recovered at Homol’ovi I, a Pueblo IV village located alongside the Little Colorado River. Analysis shows there is little association between room type and the types of fauna deposited within them. Next, I explore the Homol’ovi I assemblage through the distribution of lagomorphs across the village to illustrate how the most abundant of fauna played an important role in the formation of room fill deposits at the site.