ASM Occasional Electronic Papers No. 1: Homol'ovi IV

Chapter Eleven:
Faunal Analysis, cont.

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Discussion of Taxa

The total number of bones identified at Homol'ovi IV was divided into five groups (Table 11.2).

Table 11.2 Distribution of identified Homol’ovi IV animal bone by class or order

Class or Order	NISP	Percentage
Leporidae	1016	74.5
Rodentia	83	6.1
Carnivora	87	6.4
Artiodactyla	142	10.4
Aves	36	2.6
TOTAL	1364	100.0

Leporidae -- Hares and Rabbits

Lagomorphs comprise 74.5% of the total identifiable faunal assemblage. Their remains are associated with all excavated structures -- 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 201, 301 and 404. This is remarkably similar to the 73.9% of the identified faunal assemblage at Homol'ovi II (Szuter 1991) and is slightly less than the 81.0% for Homol'ovi III (Pierce 2001).

Jackrabbits (Lepus spp.) and cottontails (Sylvilagus sp.) represented the lagomorph population with the proportion of cottontails of total lagomorphs at 57%. The resulting lagomorph index of .57 is identical to the .57 figure for Homol'ovi II (Strand and McKim 1996: 202) and is similar to the .67 figure for Homol'ovi III (Pierce 2001). The higher index figures indicate a greater proportion of cottontails in the assemblage. Cottontails inhabit more highly vegetated landscapes than jackrabbits because their preference is to hide to avoid predators rather than run, which is the preference of the jackrabbit. The high indices suggest a relatively vegetated landscape. Most of the lagomorph assemblage included fragmentary remains. From a total of 1016 lagomorph bones, 246 (24.2%) were complete and 770 (75.8%) were fragmentary elements.

Not surprisingly, lagomorph remains were found in every excavated structure and were the most common in every structure. Structure 2 contained the largest number of lagomorph bones, amounting to 300 fragments, of which 85 were complete. The next highest abundance was recovered from structure 301, totaling 299 bones, of which only 59 were complete skeletal parts. Room 1 is believed to have been a kiva and contained 235 total lagomorph bones. A list of the occurrence of lagomorph bones in each structure is provided in Table 11.3.

Table 11.3 Distribution of lagomorph remains by structure

Structure	Total # of Bones	Complete	Fragmentary
ST 1	235	57	178
ST 2	300	85	215
ST 4	7	0	7
ST 5	88	27	61
ST 10	27	7	20
ST 201	46	6	40
ST 301	299	59	240
ST 404	14	5	9
TOTAL	1016	246	770

Rodentia -- Rodents

The presence of rodents at the site can be the result of intrusive behavior as a consequence of post abandonment activity. There is also the possibility that they comprised part of the prehistoric diet (Szuter 1984). Rodents represent 6.08% of the total identifiable faunal assemblage. Twenty-eight (33.7%) of the 83 elements were complete skeletal parts. Rodent remains were recovered from six of the eight structures included in this study. No rodents were identified from rooms 4 and 10. The dispersion of the rodent remains at the site is shown in Table 11.4.

Table 11.4 Distribution of rodent remains by structure

Structure	Total # of Bones	Complete	Fragmentary
ST 1	35	14	21
ST 2	12	5	7
ST 4	0	0	0
ST 5	14	6	8
ST 10	0	0	0
ST 201	3	0	3
ST 301	14	2	12
ST 404	5	1	4
TOTAL	83	28	55

Carnivora -- Carnivores

Domestic dog or coyote represented all the identifiable carnivores at Homol'ovi IV. They constitute 6.38% of the total skeletal remains identified and occurred in structures 1, 2, 5, 201, and 404. More then half (53%) of the canid remains were complete skeletal parts. The distribution of these faunal assemblages is displayed in Table 11.5.

Table 11.5 Distribution of carnivore remains by structure

Structure	Total # of Bones	Complete	Fragmentary
ST 1	80	44	36
ST 2	3	1	2
ST 4	0	0	0
ST 5	1	1	0
ST 10	0	0	0
ST 201	2	0	2
ST 301	0	0	0
ST 404	1	0	1
TOTAL	87	46	41

Artiodactyla -- Deer, Antelope, and Bighorn Sheep

The group of artiodactyls was composed of Odocoileus sp. (deer), Antilocapra americana (antelope), and Ovis canadensis (bighorn sheep). A total of 133 remains in this category belonged to the first two groups listed above representing 94% of the 142 total artiodactyl bones. Five of the eight structures contained artiodactyl bones. Structure 1, which was identified as a kiva, included three long bones and one radius belonging to deer. Also two long artiodactyl bones and one tibia were found in room 2. The small number of artiodactyl bones may suggest that the animals were killed away from the village and only the bones with the most meat were brought back to the pueblo. Table 11.6 displays the distribution of the assemblage by structure.

Table 11.6 Distribution of artiodactyl remains by structure

Structure	Total # of Bones	Complete	Fragmentary
ST 1	13	5	8
ST 2	68	4	64
ST 4	0	0	0
ST 5	49	3	46
ST 10	0	0	0
ST 201	0	0	0
ST 301	8	1	7
ST 404	3	0	3
TOTAL	142	13	129

Aves -- Birds

Bird remains account for 2.64% of the total bone assemblage identified. Twenty of the 36 identified remains were classified as turkey, Melea-gris gallopavo, with 18 recovered from structure 4 including one long bone and two humeri. Most of these bones belong to a single adult turkey. Two tibiotarsus and one long bone belonging to an eagle were recovered from structure 1 (a kiva). Four bones were attributed to Falco sparverius. A breakdown of bird remains is provided in Table 11.7.

Table 11.7 Distribution of bird remains by structure

Structure	Total # of Bones	Complete	Fragmentary
ST 1	9	3	6
ST 2	0	0	0
ST 4	18	0	18
ST 5	6	3	3
ST 10	2	0	2
ST 201	0	0	0
ST 301	1	1	0
ST 404	0	0	0
TOTAL	36	7	29

Discussion

The highest occurrence of burned bone was associated with structure 5 constituting 26.7% (74 bones) of the 277 remains recovered from this room. Otherwise, burning was typically 5% to 10%, which is in line with assemblages from the other Homol'ovi sites (Pierce 2001; Strand and McKim 1996). Burning is usually not associated with cooking but results from discard of bone in to hearths after consumption. Its presence in Homol'ovi IV room assemblages is probably as much to do with the generally trashy fill or subfloor fill of the excavated rooms than to any other explanation.

Although highly disturbed due to vandalism, nevertheless, the kiva, structure 1, had the most diverse assemblage of fauna. This is in keeping with studies done in kivas from Homol'ovi I, II, and III (LaMotta 1996; Karunaratne 1997). Typical of these other kivas is the high incidence of carnivore and bird remains. Structure 1 contains 92.0% of the carnivores recovered from Homol'ovi IV structures and 25.0% of bird bones while containing 33.0% of total faunal remains. The bird frequency is low because most of a turkey was recovered from the fill and floor of structure 4 accounting for 50.0% of the total identifiable bird assemblage from the site. Discounting the turkey, structure 1 has 50% of the remaining bird remains from Homol'ovi IV. These figures are in keeping with other kivas analyzed at Homol'ovi and support the identification of this structure as a kiva.

As elsewhere at Homol'ovi, the preferred food source was either cottontail or jackrabbit, which make up three-fourths of the total identifiable assemblage, in line with findings at other Homol'ovi sites. The frequency of artiodactyl remains at Homol'ovi IV was much higher when compared to Homol'ovi III or II, using the artiodactyl:lagomorph index (Strand and McKim 1996:216). This suggests artiodactyl was a relatively more important component of the Homol'ovi IV diet than at other Homol'ovi sites. This could be due to greater abundance of deer and antelope along the Little Colorado River during the initial occupation of the region, where they would be more easily taken, than after the number of villages and population size had grown.

As noted by other researchers (Pierce 2001; Strand and McKim 1996; Szuter 1991), the ubiquity of species represented in archaeological assemblages is strongly related to sample size. With over 8,000 remains identified at Homol'ovi III and nearly 11,000 at Homol'ovi II, species diversity at Homol'ovi IV is much less. This lack of diversity is most highly expressed in the bird remains, where only 6 genera were identified at Homol'ovi IV in contrast to more than 20 each at Homol'ovi II and III. Other taxa missing or reduced at Homol'ovi IV included carnivores, rodents, amphibians, and fish. With the exception of the rodents, all the missing taxa are present in small numbers at the other villages.

Summary

The excavation at Homol'ovi IV yielded 1606 bones, of which 1364 were identifiable (Tables 11.3 to 11.7). Approximately 25% of the total identifiable bone is complete and 75% is fragmentary.

The number of remains of cottontail is 30% more than those identified as jackrabbit. Following the lagomorphs the next most common class is the artiodactyls followed by carnivores, rodents and birds.

Structure 1 represents the area of greatest activity in regards to the abundance of bone recovered in the excavation. This room contains 33% of the total identifiable fauna and as a result has the most diversity. This is in line with its identification as a kiva based on morphology and location of the structure.

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