Zooarchaeology, manufacture and ritual clothing at the ancient city of Teotihuacán, Mexico

La ciudad de Teotihuacan (siglos I-VI d.C.) es el centro urbano del México prehispánico más estudiado a nivel arqueológico y arqueozoológico, lo cual permite conocer la forma en que eran manejados los recursos animales. Generalmente los lepóridos, perros, venados, anátidos y pavos constituyen la gran mayoría de los restos arqueo­zoológicos descubiertos, involucrados principalmente con actividades de alimentación. En el centro de barrio de Teopancazco, excavado extensivamente de 1997 a 2005 por Linda R. Manzanilla y su equipo, fue descubierto un grupo de cuartos adyacentes (particularmente C251A) cuya abundancia de restos faunísticos y diversidad de especies rebasa por mucho lo que generalmente se observa, condición complementada por la abundancia de he­rramientas de hueso, principalmente agujas de costura e instrumentos para el trabajo de pieles. El análisis de esta colección llevó a la propuesta de que en este espacio se confeccionaban vestimentas rituales que utilizaba la elite intermedia que regía el centro de barrio, opción apoyada por la existencia de murales en donde aparecen persona­jes ataviados con indumentarias que portan gran cantidad de elementos de origen animal, particularmente marino (el “sacerdote del océano”, según Kubler). El análisis de esta colección permitió proponer que esta actividad de confección y costura había abarcado un espacio de dos siglos (350-550 d.C.).The city of Teotihuacan (I-VI centuries AD) is the most studied Prehispanic urban center in Mexico from the archaeological and archaeozoological points of view. This allows us to know how faunal resources were managed. Generally leporids, dogs, deer, ducks and turkeys are the most frequently found, particularly related to food consumption activities. In the Teopancazco neighborhood center, which has been extensively excavated from 1997-2005 by Linda R. Manzanilla and her team, a series of adjacent rooms (particularly C251A) show faunal abundance and species diversity way beyond what is generally observed at that site. This fact is complemented by the abundance of bone instruments, particularly needles and instruments for hide preparation. The analysis of all the data allowed us to propose that this space was used as part of the tailoring activities of attires and headdresses used by the intermediate elite that administered the neighborhood in their ritual activities, an option backed by the mural paintings at the site, which represent the “ocean priests”, as Kubler once mentioned. With the spatial analysis of the adjacent rooms, we may propose that the “tailors’ shop” was used as such during two centuries (AD 350-550).

Dog Burials Associated with Human Burials in the West Indies during the Early Pre-Columbian Ceramic Age (500 BC-600 AD)

Across the Caribbean, the widespread presence of canine remains at archaeological sites from the Saladoid period raises questions about the role of “man’s best friend.” Dog (Canis familiaris) remains have been found located in both refuse middens and burials adjacent to human graves in a number of sites in the French Antilles and Barbuda, West Indies. This paper will critically examine dog remains and discuss the varied duality of the dog’s role in the Saladoid world: from food source to lifelong companion. The importance of dogs within Amerindian sites from Saint Martin, the Guadeloupe archipelago, Martinique and Barbuda will be explored from a zooarchaeological perspective, concluding with a critical discussion of changes in cultural patterns, as seen through the decline in dog remains during the Troumassoid and Suazoid period at the sites in the French Antilles. Résumé Sépultures de chiens associées à des sépultures humaines dans les Petites Antilles à l’Âge du Néoindien ancien (500 av. – 600 ap. J.-C.). Dans les Antilles, la présence généralisée de restes de chiens sur les sites de la période céramique ancienne Saladoïde soulève des questions sur le rôle de ce « meilleur ami de l’homme ». En effet, des chiens (Canis familiaris) ont été trouvés aussi bien dans des zones de rejets, qu’enterrés aux côtés de sépultures humaines dans un certain nombre de sites des Petites Antilles. Ce document examinera ces restes de chiens de façon critique et décrira les morphologies particulières des chiens des sites amérindiens de l’île de Saint-Martin, l\u27archipel de la Guadeloupe, la Martinique et de l’île de Barbuda, dans une perspective archéozoologique. Une discussion critique portera sur l\u27évolution des changements des modèles culturels, comme celui de la chute drastique des chiens enterrés pendant les périodes archéologiques plus tardives, Troumassoïde et Suazoïde, des sites des Antilles françaises. Enfin, la discussion portera sur la dualité du rôle du chien dans le monde Saladoïde, à la fois source de nourriture et compagnon de vie

Disease: A Hitherto Unexplored Constraint on the Spread of Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) in Pre-Columbian South America

Although debate continues, there is agreement that dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) were first domesticated in Eurasia, spreading from there to other parts of the world. However, while that expansion already extended as far as Europe, China, and North America by the early Holocene, dogs spread into (and south of) the tropics only much later. In South America, for example, the earliest well attested instances of their presence do not reach back much beyond 3000 cal. BC, and dogs were still absent from large parts of the continent – Amazonia, the Gran Chaco, and much of the Southern Cone – at European contact. Previous explanations for these patterns have focused on cultural choice, the unsuitability of dogs for hunting certain kinds of tropical forest prey, and otherwise unspecified environmental hazards, while acknowledging that Neotropical lowland forests witness high rates of canine mortality. Building on previous work in Sub-Saharan Africa (Mitchell 2015) and noting that the dog’s closest relatives, the grey wolf (C. lupus) and the coyote (C. latrans), were likewise absent from South and most of Central America in Pre- Columbian times, this paper explores instead the possibility that infectious disease constrained the spread of dogs into Neotropical environments. Four diseases are considered, all likely to be native and/or endemic to South America: canine distemper, canine trypanosomiasis, canine rangeliosis, and canine visceral leishmaniasis caused by infection with Leishmania amazonensis and L. colombiensis. The paper concludes by suggesting ways in which the hypothesis that disease constrained the expansion of dogs into South America can be developed further

Arqueozoología y manufactura de vestimentas rituales en la antigua ciudad de Teotihuacan, México

The city of Teotihuacan (I-VI centuries AD) is the most studied Prehispanic urban center in Mexico from the archaeological and archaeozoological points of view. This allows us to know how faunal resources were managed. Generally leporids, dogs, deer, ducks and turkeys are the most frequently found, particularly related to food consumption activities. In the Teopancazco neighborhood center, which has been extensively excavated from 1997-2005 by Linda R. Manzanilla and her team, a series of adjacent rooms (particularly C251A) show faunal abundance and species diversity way beyond what is generally observed at that site. This fact is complemented by the abundance of bone instruments, particularly needles and instruments for hide preparation. The analysis of all the data allowed us to propose that this space was used as part of the tailoring activities of attires and headdresses used by the intermediate elite that administered the neighborhood in their ritual activities, an option backed by the mural paintings at the site, which represent the “ocean priests”, as Kubler once mentioned. With the spatial analysis of the adjacent rooms, we may propose that the “tailors’ shop” was used as such during two centuries (AD 350-550). La ciudad de Teotihuacan (siglos I-VI d.C.) es el centro urbano del México prehispánico más estudiado a nivel arqueológico y arqueozoológico, lo cual permite conocer la forma en que eran manejados los recursos animales. Generalmente los lepóridos, perros, venados, anátidos y pavos constituyen la gran mayoría de los restos arqueo­zoológicos descubiertos, involucrados principalmente con actividades de alimentación. En el centro de barrio de Teopancazco, excavado extensivamente de 1997 a 2005 por Linda R. Manzanilla y su equipo, fue descubierto un grupo de cuartos adyacentes (particularmente C251A) cuya abundancia de restos faunísticos y diversidad de especies rebasa por mucho lo que generalmente se observa, condición complementada por la abundancia de he­rramientas de hueso, principalmente agujas de costura e instrumentos para el trabajo de pieles. El análisis de esta colección llevó a la propuesta de que en este espacio se confeccionaban vestimentas rituales que utilizaba la elite intermedia que regía el centro de barrio, opción apoyada por la existencia de murales en donde aparecen persona­jes ataviados con indumentarias que portan gran cantidad de elementos de origen animal, particularmente marino (el “sacerdote del océano”, según Kubler). El análisis de esta colección permitió proponer que esta actividad de confección y costura había abarcado un espacio de dos siglos (350-550 d.C.)