The effect of cooking on the survivorship of jackrabbit skeletons (Lepus californicus) presented to desert scavengers of the eastern Great Basin, North America

In order to study the effects of human processing decisions on consumption and destruction of small animal skeletons by scavengers, twenty‐six blacktailed jackrabbits were dry roasted or boiled and their skeletons presented to scavengers at various locations throughout the Sevier Desert of Utah. Ske...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of osteoarchaeology 2010-03, Vol.20 (2), p.214-226
Main Author: Ugan, Andrew
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archaeology
Bones
Cooking
Deserts
Ecosystems
Great Basin
lagomorph
Rabbits
scavenging
small mammal
taphonomy
zooarchaeology
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Summary:In order to study the effects of human processing decisions on consumption and destruction of small animal skeletons by scavengers, twenty‐six blacktailed jackrabbits were dry roasted or boiled and their skeletons presented to scavengers at various locations throughout the Sevier Desert of Utah. Skeletons of all samples were quickly and substantially destroyed, with roasted animals surviving at one‐half to one‐third the rate of their boiled counterparts. Survivorship of elements was unrelated to skeletal density in either case, but rather to the amount of adhering tissue, marrow, and fat. Axial elements tended to be preferentially destroyed, particularly in the case of roasting. These effects echo ethnographic and ethnoarchaeological observations on the relationship between cooking, length of site occupation, and small animal survivorship and carry clear implications for how we use the relative frequencies of large and small animals to interpret prehistoric subsistence. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:1047-482X
1099-1212
DOI:10.1002/oa.1024