Late Prehistoric Subsistence Economy on the Edwards Plateau

AbstractThis study examines subsistence remains from Late Prehistoric period sites on and adjacent to the Edwards Plateau. Archaeologists have argued that a shift from generalized hunting and gathering to big game hunting occurred during the Toyah phase, the latter part of the Late Prehistoric. The shift signals a move to high return big game resources and implies the existence of environmental conditions that can support them. Assessment of subsistence remains using the diet-breadth model does not support the argument that diet-breadth narrowed with a focus on big game hunting in the Toyah phase. The sites reviewed in the current study exhibit wide variation in subsistence remains from very low-ranked plant foods to high-ranked big game resources. The data are better explained by a change in mobility strategies responding to a variable and risky environment. These strategies, particularly bulk processing plant and animal resources at special activity sites, leave very visible archaeological signatures th...