Vertebrate subsistence in the Mississippian-Historic transition

A considerable difficulty in understanding the Mississippian-Historic transition among southeastern native cultures lies in the discontinuities that exist in most forms of data available to researchers. Zooarchaeological methods have the advantage of providing rigorously comparable data from one time period to the next. Faunal assemblages from several different environments and different degrees of colonial penetration are examined to explore changes that occurred in the vertebrate subsistence patterns of southeastern peoples during this pivotal time. Despite the arrival of Europeans and the introduction of their domestic animals, the data indicate notable continuity in subsistence strategies through time.