The Promise and Peril of Older Collections: Meta-Analyses and the Zooarchaeology of Late Prehistoric/Early Historic New Mexico

Abstract

Zooarchaeological meta-analyses hold promise in answering the “big questions” of archaeology, but they are also fraught with methodological peril. In regions with a long history of archaeological research, like the American Southwest, such meta-analyses will invariably involve the use of older collections. These assemblages can pose a challenge for zooarchaeologists: the faunas were often haphazardly and/or inconsistently collected, and documentation of collection methods can be difficult to find (if available at all). In this paper, we illustrate several problems common to older collections using examples from Tijeras Pueblo (LA 581) and Comanche Springs (LA 14904), and explore these issues further through a meta-analysis of the distribution of Old World domestic animal taxa in 17th century New Mexico. We find that while the inclusion of older collections in zooarchaeological meta-analyses poses challenges, if the problems in these data are addressed, such collections can provide useful information.