Cattle in the Postcolumbian Americas

A Zooarchaeological Historical Study

Nicolas Delsol

• Publisher: University Press of Florida
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9780813069982
• eBook ISBN: 9780813073200
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

How the arrival of cattle transformed life and society in the Americas

In this book, Nicolas Delsol compares zooarchaeological and material evidence from sites across Mesoamerica and the Caribbean to show how the introduction of cattle, beginning with imports by Spanish colonizers in the 1500s, shaped colonial American society.

Before European colonization, cows were vital in European and African societies but were unknown to the Native communities of the Western Hemisphere. This book traces their impact in the Americas by using a broad range of methods, such as ancient DNA analyses on faunal collections from major postcolumbian sites. Delsol describes the place of cattle in the colonial culture and landscape, beginning with the transportation of cattle across the Atlantic and moving to herding practices in new habitats, butchery techniques, and the production, trading, and use of cow byproducts.

Cattle in the Postcolumbian Americas is the first large-scale regional archaeological study of the introduction of a European domesticated species to the Americas. Using both zooarchaeological and historical data, Delsol argues that the arrival of cattle was a major consequence of European colonization with effects that have often been overlooked.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Following the Cattle Assemblage
• 3. Historical and Archaeological Context
• 4. Zooarchaeological Data
• 5. Exploring the Origins of Postcolumbian Cattle
• 6. Raising Cattle in Colonial Spanish America
• 7. Cattle and Butchers
• 8. The Transformation of Cattle
• 9. Conclusion
• References Cited
• Index
• About the Author