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Turkey Bones from Wetherill Mesa1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2018

Lyndon L. Hargrave
Lyndon L. Hargrave*
Affiliation:
Southwest Archeological Center, Globe, Arizona
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Abstract

Turkey bones occurred in some archaeological sites of Wetherill Mesa in such quantity and form as to demonstrate the value of this domestic fowl as a major economic factor in the lives of the local inhabitants. Here are ample evidences of the use of turkey bones in the manufacture of tools and jewelry and of the use of turkey meat as food. Actual evidence of cooking was not recognized, but butchering techniques were indicated by cut marks on bones. Some occurrences of groups of disarticulated bones in a normal relationship of articulation may or may not have a ritual meaning. Some information is given that may be helpful in distinguishing bones of the Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo merriami) from bones of the archaeological and modern domestic breeds. Comments are also made on some problems that deal with the turkey as an economic factor in the lives of peoples of other areas in the Southwest.

Type
3 The Natural Sciences
Information
Memoirs of the Society for American Archaeology , Volume 19: Contributions of the Wetherill Mesa Archeological Project , October 1965 , pp. 161 - 166
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1965 

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Footnotes

1

This is Contribution No. 17 of the Wetherill Mesa Archeological Project.

References

Hargrave, Lyndon L. 1938 A Plea for More Careful Preservation of All Biological Material from Prehistoric Sites. Southwestern Lore, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 47–51. Gunnison.Google Scholar
Hargrave, Lyndon L. 1939 Bird Bones from Abandoned Indian Dwellings in Arizona and Utah. The Condor, Vol. 41, pp. 206–10. Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Osborne, Douglas 1964 Solving the Riddles of Wetherill Mesa. National Geographic Magazine, Vol. 125, No. 2, p. 172. Washington.Google Scholar
Reed, Erik K. 1951 Turkeys in Southwestern Archaeology. El Palacio, Vol. 58, No. 7, pp. 195–205. Santa Fe.Google Scholar