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Pronghorn Dental Age Profiles and Holocene Hunting Strategies at Hogup Cave, Utah

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David A. Byers  and
Brenda L. Hill
David A. Byers
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology, Missouri State University, 901 S. National Ave., Springfield, MO 65897 (dbyers@sisna.com)
Brenda L. Hill
Affiliation:
ENTRIX Inc., 807 East South Temple, Suite 350, Salt Lake City, UT 84102 (brenda.hill@azul-spi.com)
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Abstract

In this article, we use pronghorn dental age data to document pronghorn hunting strategies at Hogup Cave, Utah, and explore their relationship with a widespread late Holocene trend in increasing large-game abundances noted in archaeofaunal contexts throughout western North America. Specifically, we test the hypothesis that at Hogup Cave, pronghorn hunting methods changed from a middle Holocene strategy dominated by encounter hunting of individual animals to a late Holocene strategy emphasizing large-scale communal hunting. Our analysis suggests that ancient hunters visiting Hogup Cave most likely employed small-scale encounter hunting during the fall and winter months and that this subsistence pattern varied little between the middle and late Holocene. Moreover, while hunting strategies appear to have remained generally similar throughout the 8,800-year occupational record at Hogup Cave, artiodactyl abundances show a dramatic increase relative to smaller, lower-ranked prey in late Holocene strata, suggesting that a temporal shift in the favored hunting strategy, by itself, cannot explain this trend in every context.

Résumé

Résumé

En este artículo usamos datos de edad dental del antílope americano para documentar estrategias de cacería en Hogup Cave, Utah, y explorar su relación con una tendencia generalizada en el Holoceno tardío a un incremento en la abundancia de cacería grande notada en el contexto arqueofaunístico a lo largo del Oeste Norteamericano. Específicamente, evaluamos la hipótesis de que en Hogup Cave, los métodos de cacería de antílope cambiaron de una estrategia dominada por cacería por encuentro de animales individuales en el Holoceno medio, a una estrategia enfatizando cacería comunal a larga escala en el Holoceno tardío. Nuestro análisis sugiere que los cazadores antiguos visitando Hogup Cave probablemente empleaban cacería por encuentro a pequeña escala durante los meses de Otoño e Invierno, y que este patrón de subsistencia cambió poco durante el Holoceno medio y tardío. Más aún, mientras que las estrategias de cacería parecen haberse mantenido generalmente similares a lo largo del récord ocupacional de 8800 años en Hogup Cave, las abundancias de artiodáctilos presentan un dramático incremento relativo a las presas más pequeñas y de bajo rango en los estratos del Holoceno tardío, sugiriendo que un cambio en la estrategia de cacería favorecida, por si solo, no puede explicar este patrón en todo contexto.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 74 , Issue 2 , April 2009 , pp. 299 - 321
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2009

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