Analysis of the protohistoric period fauna from the Scott County Pueblo site in western Kansas

Abstract

The Scott County Pueblo (14SC1) is a seven-room masonry pueblo situated on the High Plains in western Kansas. Recent analyses identify at least two occupations prior to the Pueblo Revolt of 1680: an earlier Dismal River Complex (ancestral Apache, Ndee) occupation dating between AD 1470 and 1640, and a later multiethnic occupation of ancestral Apache (Ndee) and Rio Grande Puebloan peoples dating around AD 1630–1690. This paper reports the results of the zooarchaeological analysis of a faunal collection excavated by James H. Gunnerson in 1965. Our results indicate Scott County hunters preyed upon an array of species, although bison, canids, and turtles were the most common taxa procured. Based on bison skeletal part representation, we hypothesize small groups of hunters traveled to procure bison, and the differential transport of high utility body parts reflects a subsistence strategy to accommodate for the limited labor available for carcass transport.