Domesticate Animal vs. Wild Prey Use in an Ancestral Puebloan Community in Southwestern Colorado

The Ancestral Puebloan people relied heavily on domesticated resources, such as corn and turkey. However, throughout their occupation of the Mesa Verde region they continued to incorporate wild plants and animals into their diet. We investigate how the ratio of domesticated versus wild fauna changed from Pueblo II (A.D. 900-1150) to terminal Pueblo III (A.D. 1280-1300) in the Goodman Point community of southwestern Colorado. Taxonomic abundance of faunal data indicates that either turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) or cottontail (Sylvilagus sp.) dominated each assemblage. Therefore, turkey and cottontail were used as proxies for domesticate and wild prey. Our results from the turkey-cottontail index suggest that the Goodman Point occupants' reliance on domesticated animals peaked prior to terminal Pueblo III.