Southwest Birds of Sacrifice

Bones of birds of sacrifice have been recovered from excavations of archaeological dating as early as 300 B.C. to the present. A four part model is presented which relates the occurances of these specimans to socio-politico-religio-economic stages in the development of the prehistory of the southwest. THese include Paleo-Indian big game hunting, dry farming, canal irragated farming, and population aggregation phenomena as illustrated by archaeological excavation, osteological remains, and iconography in Southwestern and Mesoamerican sites.