My main interests are in the pre-Hispanic American Southwest with a focus on intergroup interaction and identity formation in peripheral populations. My dissertation research examines how potters learned and shared knowledge and technology in the past. I am assessing the different scales of communities of practice and communities of identity through the archaeologically defined group called Gallina. The Gallina people occupied the highlands about 70 km north and east of Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico between about A.D. 1100-1300 with some Ancestral Puebloan attributes in addition to a suite of artifacts that are distinct from the Region during this time. I am also interested in the different facets of Native New Mexican identity and Plains/SW interaction during the pre- and post-Contact periods.
δ13C isotopes of the Tijeras turkeys suggest two diets, one C3-based and one C4.The C3 turkeys at... more δ13C isotopes of the Tijeras turkeys suggest two diets, one C3-based and one C4.The C3 turkeys at Tijeras are largely genetically domestic.Analysis of collagen-apatite spacing suggests the Tijeras C3 turkeys were free-ranged.The presence of two husbandry practices may reflect location on a cultural boundary.Previous research reporting stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope values of prehistoric turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) remains from the American Southwest indicates that these birds were husbanded in consistent ways: the majority of samples suggest a diet dominated by maize, a domesticate that uses the C4 photosynthetic pathway. However, most of these studies have focused on turkey remains from locations where maize would likely have been readily available. Here we present isotope and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotype data from turkey remains from the relatively high-elevation site of Tijeras Pueblo (LA 581), a location where maize production may have been marginal. The Tijeras Pueblo turkeys display a unique carbon isotope pattern in both bone collagen and bone apatite, with half the samples indicating a predominately C3 diet (a signature characteristic of modern wild turkeys) and the other half predominately C4, even though the majority of samples belong to the Southwestern domestic turkey mtDNA lineage identified by Speller et al. (2010). Comparative collagen samples from the Albuquerque Basin and the Gallina region do not follow this pattern. Apatite-collagen δ13C spacing in the Tijeras turkeys suggests these birds were acquiring carbohydrates and protein from a mixture of C3- and C4-based resources. We propose that the C3 Tijeras turkeys were free-ranged, and that the presence of two distinct turkey husbandry regimes at Tijeras Pueblo may reflect Tijeras' geographic location on a cultural boundary between the Plains and Pueblo regions.
Overview of past and current archaeological research on the Ancestral Pueblo Gallina phase of the... more Overview of past and current archaeological research on the Ancestral Pueblo Gallina phase of the U.S. Southwest.
δ13C isotopes of the Tijeras turkeys suggest two diets, one C3-based and one C4.The C3 turkeys at... more δ13C isotopes of the Tijeras turkeys suggest two diets, one C3-based and one C4.The C3 turkeys at Tijeras are largely genetically domestic.Analysis of collagen-apatite spacing suggests the Tijeras C3 turkeys were free-ranged.The presence of two husbandry practices may reflect location on a cultural boundary.Previous research reporting stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope values of prehistoric turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) remains from the American Southwest indicates that these birds were husbanded in consistent ways: the majority of samples suggest a diet dominated by maize, a domesticate that uses the C4 photosynthetic pathway. However, most of these studies have focused on turkey remains from locations where maize would likely have been readily available. Here we present isotope and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotype data from turkey remains from the relatively high-elevation site of Tijeras Pueblo (LA 581), a location where maize production may have been marginal. The Tijeras Pueblo turkeys display a unique carbon isotope pattern in both bone collagen and bone apatite, with half the samples indicating a predominately C3 diet (a signature characteristic of modern wild turkeys) and the other half predominately C4, even though the majority of samples belong to the Southwestern domestic turkey mtDNA lineage identified by Speller et al. (2010). Comparative collagen samples from the Albuquerque Basin and the Gallina region do not follow this pattern. Apatite-collagen δ13C spacing in the Tijeras turkeys suggests these birds were acquiring carbohydrates and protein from a mixture of C3- and C4-based resources. We propose that the C3 Tijeras turkeys were free-ranged, and that the presence of two distinct turkey husbandry regimes at Tijeras Pueblo may reflect Tijeras' geographic location on a cultural boundary between the Plains and Pueblo regions.
Overview of past and current archaeological research on the Ancestral Pueblo Gallina phase of the... more Overview of past and current archaeological research on the Ancestral Pueblo Gallina phase of the U.S. Southwest.
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