Paleonutrition

The study of paleonutrition provides valuable insights into shifts and changes in human history. This is the most comprehensive book on the topic. Intended for students and professionals, it describes the nature of paleonutrition studies, reviews the history of research, discusses methodological issues in the reconstruction of prehistoric diets, presents theoretical frameworks frequently used in research, and showcases examples in which analyses have been successfully conducted on prehistoric individuals, groups, and populations. It offers an integrative approach to understanding state-of-the-art anthropological dietary, health, and nutritional assessments. The most recent and innovative methods used to reconstruct prehistoric diets are discussed, along with the major ways in which paleonutrition data are recovered, analyzed, and interpreted. The book includes five contemporary case studies that illustrate the mutually beneficial linkages between ethnography and archaeology

The Importance of Pollen Concentration Values from Coprolites: An Analysis of Southwest Texas Samples

This paper presents the information gained from a palynological analysis of 38 coprolites from the lower Pecos region in southwestern Texas. The study was conducted to determine the subsistence and diet of a group of hunter-gatherers inhabiting Baker Cave, Val Verde County, at approximately A.D. 900. The Baker Cave inhabitants used what was available in their environment for their subsistence and medicinal needs. The probable economic pollen types observed in the samples include the mustard family (Brassicaceae), sotol (Dasylirion), a sunflower type (high-spine Asteraceae), sagebrush (Artemisia), and grass (Gramineae). An important aspect of this study also provides an example of the application of pollen concentration to coprolite studies. This study indicates that coprolite samples containing over 100,000 pollen grains per gram of material usually contain high frequencies of a few pollen types, most of which are economic and were ingested only a few days before the sample was deposited. Samples which contain under 100,000 pollen grains per gram of material may contain pollen types which were ingested many days before the sample was deposited, or are only background, uneconomic, pollen types

Archaeobiology

Inclusion of botanical and zoological remains in archaeological analysis has dramatically increased since the advent of the New Archaeology. Yet most archaeologists have a limited knowledge of what archaeobiologists do and how their work can improve archaeological research and interpretation. In this handy volume, Kristin Sobolik outlines the major activities of archaeobiologists, the kinds of analyses they can provide to an archaeological project, and how biological specialists could and should be involved in project design and implementation. She also outlines factors that influence preservation of plant and animal remains and how project archaeologists should properly collect and analyze specimens. This brief work is an important guide for students starting in archaeobiology and for other archaeologists who use their work.https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/books/1027/thumbnail.jp

Direct Evidence for the Importance of Small Animals to Prehistoric Diets: A Review of Coprolite Studies

Researchers tend to underestimate or ignore the importance of small animals to the prehistoric diet due to the difficulty of separating cultural from noncultural faunal debris excavated from sites. Human coprolite analyses (dessicated human feces) indicate prehistoric dietary consumption of small animals. The large number of coprolites analyzed from North America reveals direct ingestion of small animals and indicates that small animal remains from sites indeed reflect human dietary patterns. The coprolites reveal that reptiles, birds, bats, and a large variety of rodents were an important and prevalent component of the prehistoric diet

Paleonutrition: The Diet and Health of Prehistoric Americans

Scholars working in all aspects of dietary and health reconstruction present their research and its applications to the study of paleonutrition, the limitations of each dietary assemblage in determining paleonutrition, and how those limitations can be alleviated. The 24 scholars present data on the advances that have been made in understanding the nutrition of prehistoric Americans and how those studies have helped define the integrative basis of such research.https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/books/1028/thumbnail.jp

A Nutritional Analysis of Diet as Revealed in Prehistoric Human Coprolites

Nutritional analysis of archaeological material has not been extensively conducted. The main reasons for the lack of such studies include the problems inherent in archaeological preservation of dietary remains, and the lack of information on the nutritional content of prehistoric foods. Coprolites (dessicated human feces), however, are unique resources for determining the prehistoric diet of archaeological populations. This paper presents a nutritional analysis conducted on 38 coprolites approximately 1000 years old that were excavated from a dry, limestone rockshelter in Val Verde County, Texas. The nutritional analysis indicates that the prehistoric diet of these people was relatively nutritious, although other archaeological information from the botanical, faunal, and human remains needs to be assessed before a complete nutritional statement can be made