Mulling Over Mule Deer: Body Size and Harvest Pressure in the Central Mesa Verde Region

Zooarchaeology provides valuable insights into human impacts on past landscapes, especially when untangling questions of overhunting and resource depression. These processes require multiple targeted analyses to understand the individual influences of human and environmental factors on animals. Mule deer in the late pre-Hispanic central Mesa Verde region offer an excellent case study for understanding the importance of using zooarchaeological methods to isolate signatures of (un)sustainable resource use. Mule deer are culturally and dietarily significant, making their scarcity in the archaeological record from Pueblo I–III (750–1350 CE) a potential indicator of overhunting. While overhunting has been hypothesized as a cause of mule deer decline, supported by multiple strong case studies and relative abundance data (and indices), this interpretation warrants careful evaluation. Multiple analytical tools should be used to evaluate claims of unsustainable resource use. This study reevaluates the overhunting hypothesis using body size and mortality profile analyses, aiming to clarify hunting practices and their ecological impacts through time.