The Community at the Crossroads: Artiodactyl Exploitation and Socio-environmental Connectivity at Tijeras Pueblo (LA 581)

Abstract

Situated at the junction of two canyons, one north–south and one east–west, Tijeras Pueblo (LA 581) is within easy reach of a number of different ecoregions as well as on a boundary between two distinct culture areas, the Pueblo to the west and the Great Plains to the east. This position on the landscape may have created both challenges and opportunities for the residents of Tijeras Pueblo. While the elevation of Tijeras Canyon makes this location a challenging spot for maize agriculture, the large number of nearby environmental zones, as well as the social connectivity afforded by the pueblo’s situation, may have afforded its residents access to an abundance of wild resources. In this paper, we discuss the results from our analysis of the artiodactyl fauna from Tijeras Pueblo, focusing on what these data suggest about socio-environmental connectivity.

Situado en el cruce de dos cañones, Tijeras Pueblo (LA 581) se encuentra a poca distancia de varias ecorregiones diferentes, así como en un límite entre dos áreas culturales distintas, el suroeste de Pueblo a el oeste y las Grandes Llanuras al este. Esta posición en el paisaje puede haber creado tanto desafíos como oportunidades para los residentes de Tijeras Pueblo en términos de subsistencia. Si bien la elevación del Cañón de Tijeras hace que esta ubicación sea un lugar desafiante para la agricultura de maíz, la gran cantidad de zonas ambientales cercanas, así como la conectividad social sugerida por la ubicación del Pueblo, pueden haber brindado a sus residentes acceso a una abundancia de recursos silvestres. En este papel, discutimos los resultados de nuestro análisis de la fauna de artiodáctilos de Tijeras Pueblo, enfocándonos en lo que estos datos sugieren sobre la conectividad socioambiental.

KEYWORDS:

• Zooarchaeology
• human-environment interaction
• connectivity
• hunting
• New Mexico
• Tijeras Pueblo
• Pueblo IV

Acknowledgments

We thank volume co-editors Sandra Arazi-Coambs and Judith Habicht-Mauche; two anonymous reviewers; the Pueblo of Isleta, the Cibola National Forest and Grasslands, the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, and the Museum of Southwestern Biology; Eden Franz, Lexi O’Donnell, Karen Price, Madeline Scheintaub, Lou Schuyler, and Hannah Van Vlack; and finally, Dave Phillips and the late Linda Cordell for inspiration.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available in the University of New Mexico Digital Repository, https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/anthro_data/11/.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants to Jones from the National Science Foundation (grant number 173262) and the Research Allocations Committee of the University of New Mexico.