HOLOCENE HUMAN-LAND INTERACTIONS IN THE MIDCONTINENTAL UNITED STATES: A ZOOARCHAEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Analyses of faunal remains from archaeological sites in the Midwestern United States document Holocene changes in environments and human-land interaction. Early to mid-Holocene environmental changes exaggerated differences between resource catchments within and outside large river valleys, such as those of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. The development of productive, bottomland lakes and a patchy forest-prairie mosaic in the mid-Holocene enhanced productivity of fish and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). These changes in resource productivity and distributions stimulated changes in human settlement, mobility, and subsistence practices. Mid-Holocene populations made greater use of white-tailed deer and aquatic resources than did their early Holocene predecessors.

In large river valleys, the trend toward increased use of aquatic resources, particularly fish, continued into the late Holocene. Residentially more sedentary horticulturalists made increased use of fish, a renewable resource that could withstand heavy exploitation. However representation of white-tailed deer and other terrestrial mammals declined because of hunting pressure and human impacts on habitat. The broad patterns in human use of fauna correspond to changes in environment, plant use and cultivation, and settlement and mobility strategies.