OLD BONES: THE EFFECTS OF CURATION AND EXCHANGE ON THE INTERPRETATION OF ARTIODACTYL REMAINS IN HOHOKAM SITES

Dietary choices are one subset of the factors that affect the proportion of artiodactyls in Southwestern faunal assemblages. This study of 23 Hohokam faunal assemblages suggests that, in fact, artiodactyls were highly valued as a source of bone tool material, hides, and ritual paraphernalia. The importance placed on artiodactyls as a source for raw material could lead to their over-representation relative to smaller taxa, due to the curation of tools and ritual items and the gathering of antler and bone for tool manufacturing. Faunal analysts can easily control for these behaviors by publishing tool and body part representation data when appropriate. This situation underscores the importance of explicit statements about the nature of artiodactyl remains when publishing faunal data, particularly how the analyst calculated counting units and in what archaeological contexts large game were recovered.