Desirable Meat: The Social Context of Meat Procurement at Albert Porter Pueblo, a Great House Community in the Central Mesa Verde Region

Abstract

The Albert Porter Pueblo great house, located in the central Mesa Verde region, was surrounded by numerous residential structures during the Pueblo II and Pueblo III periods. Using a variety of exploitation measures of wild game and turkeys, we test three hypotheses to see if there are meaningful similarities or differences in the faunal assemblages from the great house and the domestic households that surrounded it. Although the great house was a unique and prominent architectural feature at Albert Porter Pueblo, the faunas from the great house are generally similar to those from surrounding structures. However, there is some evidence that more meat of cottontails and turkeys was consumed in the great house compared to domestic structures during Pueblo III. Overall, all members from Albert Porter had equal access to animal food and those used in rituals and ceremonies. We explore different interpretations of social organization suggested by faunal remains.

La gran casa de Albert Porter Pueblo, ubicada en la región central de Mesa Verde, estaba rodeada por numerosas estructuras residenciales durante los períodos Pueblo II y Pueblo III. Usando una variedad de medidas de explotación de caza silvestre y pavos, probamos tres hipótesis para ver si existen similitudes o diferencias significativas en los conjuntos faunísticos de la gran casa y los hogares domésticos que la rodeaban. Aunque la gran casa era una característica arquitectónica única y prominente en Albert Porter Pueblo, las faunas de la gran casa son generalmente similares a las de las estructuras circundantes. Sin embargo, existe cierta evidencia de que se consumió más carne de coletas y pavos en la casa grande en comparación con las estructuras domésticas durante el Pueblo III. En general, todos los miembros de Albert Porter tenían igual acceso a los alimentos para animales y los utilizados en rituales y ceremonias. Exploramos diferentes interpretaciones de organización social sugeridas por restos de fauna.

KEYWORDS:

• Great house
• Pueblo II and III
• Social organization
• Faunal analysis

Acknowledgments

Faunal analyses were funded by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada) to JCD and scholarship funding from Simon Fraser University to SB. Excavations at Albert Porter Pueblo were made possible by permission of The Archaeological Conservancy and were funded by the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, the History Colorado State Historical Fund, and the National Geographic Society. We thank our colleagues at the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center for many years of collaboration and inspiration. We thank Deanna Grimstead and an anonymous reviewer whose knowledge and insightful suggestions improved the paper.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Shaw Badenhorst http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6651-9660

Additional information

Funding

Faunal analyses were funded by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada) to JCD and scholarship funding from Simon Fraser University to SB. Excavations at Albert Porter Pueblo were made possible by permission of The Archaeological Conservancy and were funded by the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, the History Colorado State Historical Fund, and the National Geographic Society.