Environmental Variation and Domestic Turkey Management in the Pre‐Hispanic Middle Rio Grande Valley

ABSTRACT Domestic turkeys ( Meleagris gallopavo ) are ubiquitous in the archaeofaunal record of the pre‐Hispanic US Southwest/Mexican Northwest. However, this ubiquity is not synonymous with uniformity in either use or management practices, and in fact, the avifaunal record of this region encompasses a great deal of variability. One potential driver for variation in past turkey management decisions—environmental differences—has been little explored. This paper addresses questions about past turkey husbandry in the Middle Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico, an area encompassing numerous distinct ecoregions. We examine differences in turkey management across the area using archaeofaunal records from Pottery Mound Pueblo, Tijeras Pueblo, and the Isleta Pueblo Mission. These assemblages represent the rich avifaunal record of this area, where the ancient residents interacted with a diverse array of both local and migratory birds as well as raising domestic turkeys. Our results highlight the benefits of looking at the entirety of the avifaunal record in order to achieve a richer understanding of human–avian relationships and past management decisions. We find that environmental context played an important role in shaping human–bird interactions and guiding turkey husbandry decisions. We demonstrate how this approach facilitates intersite comparisons and provides the best explanation for intraregional differences in the use and management of specific taxa.