The Postglacial “Readaptation” as Viewed from Mesoamerica

Abstract

AbstractFaunal analysis suggests that before the retreat of the Wisconsin glaciers from North America, the occupants of the Valley of Tehuacan, Puebla, engaged in communal drives of jackrabbit (and possibly pronghorn antelope as well). With the arrival of the present (warmer) climatic regime, antelope and jackrabbit were replaced by whitetailed deer and cottontail, and all evidence of communal drives ceased. This change, which has interesting implications from the standpoint of interband cooperation, is not reflected in either artifacts or settlement patterns as presently rscoverable by archaeologists. It also suggests that the nature of the post-Pleistocene "readaptation" in semi-tropical America differed from that postulated for the northern temperate regions.