The record of European mammal bones in colonial contexts in Yucatan, Mexico, from the 16th to the 19th Century

This is a preliminary study, which seeks to emphasize the importance of zooarchaeological research combined with historical research. The goal of the present project is to study the different uses of domestic animals of European origin by the colonial population of Yucatán, employing analytical techniques of taphonomic and osteological identification. The sample analysed comes from the colonial town of Izamal and the Hermitage of Santa Isabel, located in Mérida, Yucatán.

This poster investigates the changes that occurred in the diet or lifestyle of the people of the region after the arrival of new animal species. In this sense, the taphonomic and osteological analyses represent an adequate means to identify not only the taxa used for consumption, but also the domesticates employed to perform other tasks, such as pulling carts, as well as those animals used in both contexts. Our analyses suggest that during the colonial period the Maya consumed new species of animals, domesticates introduced by the Spanish, on a large scale. They did not, however, stop using some wild species for common food consumption.