Meat food preferences during the Late Archaic Period at Puerto Marqués, Guerrero, Mexico

Abstract

Abstract We investigate animal food preferences of the Ostiones people, the occupants of the coastal site of Puerto Marqués, one of the few Late Archaic Period sites located along the Pacific coast of Mexico (4600 and 2000 cal BCE). Our data are based upon recovered faunal remains at the site, which consist of vertebrate bones and molluskan shells identified to the lowest possible taxon. Habitat information for the animals allows a reconstruction of the Ostiones people's predator-prey relationship to regional animal populations. Estimated meat weight calculations provide information about the relative importance of food sources, at least in terms of animal remains at the site. In general, shellfish meat dominates meat from vertebrates and the principal targeted mollusks are estuarine. Bony fish are the most important contributor to vertebrate meat and they are mainly marine species. We compare these data to the only other known Late Archaic Period coastal assemblages on the southern Pacific coast of Mexico in order to formulate a preliminary model of people's coastal adaptation during this interval.