LOCATED IN THE BLACK HILLS OF southwestern South Dakota, Wind Cave National Park has been home to... more LOCATED IN THE BLACK HILLS OF southwestern South Dakota, Wind Cave National Park has been home to large herds of bison since legislation passed in 1912 established the Wind Cave National Game Preserve. The National Park Service manages the herd at the park to ensure genetic diversity and herd health through a program that is a model for bison management (NPS 2006). Despite the success of this program, little is known about the history of Native American bison-hunting techniques and management practices in what is today the national park. Hence, when the Park Service acquired a 5,556-acre (2,248 ha) tract of land in 2011 that contained what many believed to be an ancient bison jump, park staff sought the help of archeologists from the Midwest Archeological Center to investigate. In 2012 scientists spent three weeks evaluating remains found at this site through survey, mapping, excavation, and geophysical prospection.
The reconstruction of prehistoric diet has allowed anthropologists to theorize about the nutritio... more The reconstruction of prehistoric diet has allowed anthropologists to theorize about the nutrition of prehistoric peoples. Several of these investigations have indicated the presence of nutritional deficiencies resulting from dependence by prehistoric peoples on specific resources. Deficiencies of several nutrients have also been documented in modern populations that depend heavily on one or two specific resources for meeting daily requirements. Through the use of a variety of dietary reconstruction techniques the zinc status of prehistoric peoples and the effects various subsistence and dietary practices had on zinc nutrition are investigated. Subsistence and food consumption patterns are reconstructed with the use of archeological materials and ethnographic analogy concerning food preparation techniques in a sample of prehistoric populations. Stable carbon isotope analysis is also used to determine the amount of C4 plants (e.g., maize) consumed by the sample groups. Subsistence and food consumption patterns determined using these methods are evaluated for their effect on zinc nutrition through analysis of skeletal materials from the sample populations for the zinc deficiency related anomaly spina bifida occulta. Zine is an essential element in human nutrition which has limited distribution in the food resources commonly available to prehistoric human consumers. Variation in subsistence strategies and food consumption patterns characteristic of different aboriginal adaptations are found to have a significant impact on variation in levels of zinc nutrition and health in prehistoric groups. Among prehistoric groups consumption of animal products and limited dependence on maize are found to be essential in maintaining adequate zine nutrition and in avoiding zinc deficiency.
LOCATED IN THE BLACK HILLS OF southwestern South Dakota, Wind Cave National Park has been home to... more LOCATED IN THE BLACK HILLS OF southwestern South Dakota, Wind Cave National Park has been home to large herds of bison since legislation passed in 1912 established the Wind Cave National Game Preserve. The National Park Service manages the herd at the park to ensure genetic diversity and herd health through a program that is a model for bison management (NPS 2006). Despite the success of this program, little is known about the history of Native American bison-hunting techniques and management practices in what is today the national park. Hence, when the Park Service acquired a 5,556-acre (2,248 ha) tract of land in 2011 that contained what many believed to be an ancient bison jump, park staff sought the help of archeologists from the Midwest Archeological Center to investigate. In 2012 scientists spent three weeks evaluating remains found at this site through survey, mapping, excavation, and geophysical prospection.
The reconstruction of prehistoric diet has allowed anthropologists to theorize about the nutritio... more The reconstruction of prehistoric diet has allowed anthropologists to theorize about the nutrition of prehistoric peoples. Several of these investigations have indicated the presence of nutritional deficiencies resulting from dependence by prehistoric peoples on specific resources. Deficiencies of several nutrients have also been documented in modern populations that depend heavily on one or two specific resources for meeting daily requirements. Through the use of a variety of dietary reconstruction techniques the zinc status of prehistoric peoples and the effects various subsistence and dietary practices had on zinc nutrition are investigated. Subsistence and food consumption patterns are reconstructed with the use of archeological materials and ethnographic analogy concerning food preparation techniques in a sample of prehistoric populations. Stable carbon isotope analysis is also used to determine the amount of C4 plants (e.g., maize) consumed by the sample groups. Subsistence and food consumption patterns determined using these methods are evaluated for their effect on zinc nutrition through analysis of skeletal materials from the sample populations for the zinc deficiency related anomaly spina bifida occulta. Zine is an essential element in human nutrition which has limited distribution in the food resources commonly available to prehistoric human consumers. Variation in subsistence strategies and food consumption patterns characteristic of different aboriginal adaptations are found to have a significant impact on variation in levels of zinc nutrition and health in prehistoric groups. Among prehistoric groups consumption of animal products and limited dependence on maize are found to be essential in maintaining adequate zine nutrition and in avoiding zinc deficiency.
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Papers by Anne Vawser
Despite the success of this program, little is known about the history of Native American bison-hunting techniques and
management practices in what is today the national park. Hence, when the Park Service acquired a 5,556-acre (2,248 ha) tract of land in 2011 that contained what many believed to be an ancient bison jump, park staff sought the help of archeologists from the Midwest Archeological Center to
investigate. In 2012 scientists spent three weeks evaluating remains found at this site through survey, mapping, excavation, and geophysical prospection.
Through the use of a variety of dietary reconstruction techniques the zinc status of prehistoric peoples and the effects various subsistence and dietary practices had on zinc nutrition are investigated. Subsistence and food consumption patterns are reconstructed with the use of archeological materials and ethnographic analogy concerning food preparation techniques in a sample of prehistoric populations. Stable carbon isotope analysis is also used to determine the amount of C4 plants (e.g., maize) consumed by the sample groups. Subsistence and food consumption patterns determined using these methods are evaluated for their effect on zinc nutrition through analysis of skeletal materials from the sample populations for the zinc deficiency related anomaly spina bifida occulta.
Zine is an essential element in human nutrition which has limited distribution in the food resources commonly available to prehistoric human consumers. Variation in subsistence strategies and food consumption patterns characteristic of different aboriginal adaptations are found to have a significant impact on variation in levels of zinc nutrition and health in prehistoric groups. Among prehistoric groups consumption of animal products and limited dependence on maize are found to be essential in maintaining adequate zine nutrition and in avoiding zinc deficiency.
Despite the success of this program, little is known about the history of Native American bison-hunting techniques and
management practices in what is today the national park. Hence, when the Park Service acquired a 5,556-acre (2,248 ha) tract of land in 2011 that contained what many believed to be an ancient bison jump, park staff sought the help of archeologists from the Midwest Archeological Center to
investigate. In 2012 scientists spent three weeks evaluating remains found at this site through survey, mapping, excavation, and geophysical prospection.
Through the use of a variety of dietary reconstruction techniques the zinc status of prehistoric peoples and the effects various subsistence and dietary practices had on zinc nutrition are investigated. Subsistence and food consumption patterns are reconstructed with the use of archeological materials and ethnographic analogy concerning food preparation techniques in a sample of prehistoric populations. Stable carbon isotope analysis is also used to determine the amount of C4 plants (e.g., maize) consumed by the sample groups. Subsistence and food consumption patterns determined using these methods are evaluated for their effect on zinc nutrition through analysis of skeletal materials from the sample populations for the zinc deficiency related anomaly spina bifida occulta.
Zine is an essential element in human nutrition which has limited distribution in the food resources commonly available to prehistoric human consumers. Variation in subsistence strategies and food consumption patterns characteristic of different aboriginal adaptations are found to have a significant impact on variation in levels of zinc nutrition and health in prehistoric groups. Among prehistoric groups consumption of animal products and limited dependence on maize are found to be essential in maintaining adequate zine nutrition and in avoiding zinc deficiency.