A 1,500 - year - previous clump of fossilized human poop found at a former rock tax shelter in Texas contain evidence of an ancient hunter - collector who deplete an entire rattlesnake — include a fang . Archaeologists have never ensure anything quite like it .
Back in the belated sixties , archaeologist roll up over 1,000 samples of human - produced coprolite , or dry out - out poop , at the Conejo Shelter site in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of southwest Texas . A team led by archaeologist Elanor Sonderman from Texas A&M University latterly took a new look at this quondam the skinny , leading to a rather remarkable find .
One of the recovered stern samples contained various shadow of vegetation , and even a whole lowly rodent that was seemingly rust without cooking . For hunter - accumulator of the Lower Pecos , that ’s in reality nothing out of the ordinary . But the same coprolite sample also bear ghost of an entire rattlesnake , including bits of bones , scales , and even a fang . The authors of the fresh work believe it to be the first evidence of whole - ophidian consumption in the fossil record . As the researchers sharpen out in thenew study , published in the Journal of Archaeological Science : Reports , this unequalled — and potentially life - threatening — ingestive act was likely done for ceremonial or ritualistic reason , and not for the nutrition .
The rattlesnake fang found in the coprolite, or fossilized poop, sample. The venom channel is clearly visible.Image: (E. M. Sonderman et al., 2019)
The Lower Pecos realm of Texas was first inhabited by homo about 12,000 to 14,000 years ago . The Conejo Shelter is located near the junction of the Rio Grande and Pecos rivers , and it served as a secure space for indigenous hunter - gatherers during the region ’s Archaic period . archeologist direct excavation at this website from 1967 to 1968 , take out out over 1,000 human coprolite , among other artifacts and fossils . The quantity of coprolites find at a specific area of the rock shelter suggests the blank was delegate as a latrine . Fossilized dope samples may sound off - putt , but they allow scientist to reconstruct the diets of ancient peoples .
A second coprolite found within the same stratigraphic layer as the one with the serpent fang was carbon dated to between 1,529 to 1,597 geezerhood ago , so more or less 1,000 years before the arrival of Europeans to the New World . allot to the researchers , the pre - Columbian hunting watch - gatherers who lived in the Lower Pecos region had to deal with relatively harsh desert conditions , foraging on minuscule brute such as rodents ( include lapin ) , fish , reptiles , and anything else they could find . Large prey , such as deer , were comparatively rare . Vegetation played an important role in the lives of the Lower Pecos peoples , which they used for food , medicine , and to produce items such as sandals , basketball hoop , and lustrelessness . This culture is also bonk for itselaborate and broad rock art , which ofttimes depicted snakes .
The coprolite sample containing evidence of whole - snake consumption was invest in storage back in the late 1970s . Sonderman , along with colleagues Crystal Dozier from Wichita State University and Morgan Smith from Texas A&M University , have been re - analyzing the various particular excavated during the prior digs at Conejo Shelter .
The coprolite sample prior to analysis.Image: (E. M. Sonderman et al., 2019)
For the most part , this picky stern sample was much like other human coprolites found at the internet site . This particular soul consumed a all-inclusive assortment of plant suffer both nutritional and medicinal value . Sonderman ’s team found traces of Agave lechuguilla and Liliaceae , of which the flowers were typically wipe out . The fossilized shite also check grounds of Dasylirion fiber , related to the asparagus family , and Opuntia , a cactus more commonly known as the splenetic pear tree . These industrial plant were likely eaten in the leaping or early summer .
The remains of a minor rodent were also found in the poop sample distribution , “ evidently eaten whole , with no indication of grooming or cooking , ” wrote the authors in the novel report . This is not strange , as number of fur and bones are often found in Lower Pecos human coprolite dating back to this metre time period .
As for the whole serpent , however , that total as a surprise . The researchers said it was a viperous , venomous Snake River , either a westerly diamondback rattler or Agkistrodon contortrix , the latter of which was deemed less likely owing to the size of the fang .
A chart listing the recovered elements of the small rodent (i.e. Muridae, some kind of mouse) and rattlesnake (Viperidae) found in the single poop sample.Image: (E. M. Sonderman et al., 2019)
To be clear , evidence of snake ingestion is unwashed in the archaeological record , as the author of the Modern study point out . The Tepehuan masses of Northeastern Mexico , for example , ate rattlesnakes for solid food , but only after removing the psyche , rattle , and skin ( including scales ) prior to cookery . Same for the Ute people of forward-looking - solar day Utah and Colorado , who skinned and roasted snakes over coals .
The presence of scale , bones , a one - centimeter - farseeing fang , and the vicious head in the coprolite sample is exceptionally unusual , aver the authors , intimate something other than alimentation , perhaps some sort of ritual , was the rationality for the meal . What ’s more , given the other food items in the shit , it ’s not immediately obvious that this individual was lust or otherwise desperate for food . Moreover , and as the authors wrote in the new subject , snakes held crucial symbolic status for people experience in this region . Snakes were “ considered to hold power to play upon certain elements of the earth , ” the authors wrote , and because “ of their power and role in various mythologies , many cultures around the world include snakes as a feature of ceremonies and rituals . ”
The final paragraph of the new report summarizes their interpretation of the findings quite nicely :
The recuperation of Viper skeleton in the cupboard remains from a human coprolite is remarkable , not only because of the infrequency of such an occurrence but also because this find offer a glimpse of the ritualistic behaviors of small - scale beau monde . We propose that the consumption of an intact vicious snake is not distinctive behavior for the occupant of the Lower Pecos or Conejo Shelter . It is also clear from [ relative ethnical analyses ] and rock artistic production from this region that snake hold ritual significance to the indigenous populations of the Lower Pecos . We aim that a likely explanation for the consumption of an intact snake is that the individual did so for a distinctly ceremonial or ritualistic intention .
A potential concern with this coprolite analysis is that the possessor of the poop never actually consumed the mouse or snake , and that this individual ’s faecal matter became intermixed with surrounding material , such as fur and bones . We ask Sonderman about this possible action , but she said it ’s highly unlikely .
“ When nutrient thing is digested and waste matter is produced the waste is made up of broken down digesta and indigestible materials , ” explained Sonderman in an e-mail to Gizmodo . “ The indigestible materials let in some stringy portion of plants , pelt , bones , and the like . The indigestible stuff in the coprolite were coated in fecal issue . Based on the archaeologic context it is potential that orotund portions of plant materials might have adhered to the coprolite soon after deposition but these exterior stuff were removed from the coprolite before analysis . The fang was inside the coprolite . Not hang around on it . ”
That the coprolite was a mixture of multiple defecations from more than one person was also ruled out .
“ The coprolite was clearly defined and comparatively easily separated from those in the vicinity , ” articulate Sonderman . “ Since this was from a latrine context we take on it would be rare for two individuals to take a shit in the same hole at the same fourth dimension . ”
With these issues come up to , however , a major and rather obvious limitation of this study is the lone sample . It ’s potential that the snake was eaten by a peculiarly eccentric or rum individual , and that it never happen again . Further grounds of whole - Snake River ingestion among the Lower Pecos masses would add further evidence to the call that this was something done regularly , or at least on limited occasions .
The just news is that plenty of coprolites were bring out at Conejo Shelter . Perhaps a future find is waiting inside one or more of these ancient chunks of dried - out poop .
fudge factor : A previous adaptation of this article mistakenly used the Holy Scripture “ gestational ” alternatively of “ ingestive . ” Thanks to commenter Mantelli for pointing it out . We regret the mistake .
[ Journal of Archaeological Science : Reports ]
anthropologyPaleontologyScience
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