"Garden Hunting" in the American Tropics

Author(s): Olga F. Linares

Source: Human Ecology, Vol. 4, No. 4 (Oct., 1976), pp. 331-349
Published by: Springer
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Human Ecology, Vol. 4, No. 4, 1976

"GardenHunting"in the AmericanTropics

OlgaF. Linares1

Using faunal analysis, this article outlines a coastal mammalianharvestingpat-

tern involving a few terrestrialmammals whose biomass appears to have been
greaterwhen associated with man than under "natural"conditions. Archeologi-
cal evidence suggests that these animals fed regularlyon cultivated crops and
were hunted in house gardensand cultivatedfields. By concentratingthe supply
of both carbohydratesand animal protein, "gardenhunting" may have elimi-
nated seasonalityand schedulingproblems. And because it artificiallyincreased
the biomass of selected animals, it may have functioned as a substitute for
animaldomestication.
KEY WORDS: hunting; tropics; faunal collections; coastal settlements; prehistoric hunting.

INTRODUCTION

Students of tropical South American cultures often draw a distinction

between societies located near important rivers and societies occupying "mar-
ginal" habitats away from the mainstreams(Sauer, 1958; Cameiro, 1964, 1970;
Lathrap,1968, 1970; Morey, 1970; Meggers,1971). Nonriverinegroupsare con-
sidered to be agriculturallyimpoverished,as well as committed, in the absence
of fishing possibilities, to the permanent quest for easily depleted terrestrial
and arborealgame. Low population densities, small group size, settlement dis-
persal, and constant movement are thought to result from this mode of life
(Carneiro,1970).
All nonriverinepeoples were not, however, necessarilyequally restricted.
NumerousIndiangroupswere encounteredby the first Europeanexplorersalong
both American seacoasts, but these have been discounted or ignored in the
literature, possibly because these groups were rapidly decimated (see Sauer,
1966). Yet archeologistshave repeatedly shown that coastal settlements flou-

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, P.O. Box 2072, Balboa, Panama Canal Zone.
331
i 1976 Plenum Publishing Corporation, 227 West 17th Street, New York, N.Y. 10011. No
part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, In
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording,
or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.

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332 Linares

rished in the tropics from at least 3000 B.C. onward.The subsistencesystem of

these settlements must have been very different from those of inland groups. In
fact, terrestrialhunting among these groupstended not toward a broad-spectrum
"many species taken" adaptation but rather toward greaterspecializationand
selectivity. A prehistoric example of selective hunting by otherwise maritime
groups has been described by Coe and Flannery (1964), while Nietschmann
(1973) has discussed hunting among the present-day turtle-fishing Miskito
Indiansof coastal Nicaragua.
The garden-huntingpattern I describe here from a site called CerroBrujo
in Bocas del Toro province, Panama,is also a specialized one and selectivity is
indicated by the archeologicalremains. Rather than resemblingtropical forest
hunting, with its particular technology, its belief system, and male-oriented
trekking activities(Siskind, 1973; MurphyandMurphy,1974), this game-procure-
ment system was more akin to harvestingvegetable products and maritime re-
sources.
The contrastbetween animalbiomassunder naturalconditions and biomass
under gardenhuntingis marked.Shiftingcultivation,especially of cultivatedroot
crops, affects the'biomassof terrestrialmammalsthat are behaviorallypreadapted
to becomingcommensalsof man.
As a kind of mammalian "tending pattern," garden hunting may have
taken the place of animaldomesticationin parts of the New Worldtropics. Both
patterns result in the substitution of culturally created for naturally existing
mammalian biomasses. Even now, after the introduction of bamyard animals
and cash crops, garden hunting remains a widespread and important practice.

THE SETTING

Bocas del Toro (hereafter designatedas Bocas) is a long and narrowprov-

ince located on the northwest sector of the Isthmus of Panama, facing the
CaribbeanSea or Atlantic Ocean (Fig. 1). Climatically, Bocas is wet (The Af
tropics in Koppen's classification), with two very short, relatively dry seasons.
The mean annual rainfallaveragedfor 5 years is 3703 mm (about 148 inches),
with little seasonal variation and with most precipitationfalling at night, thus
limiting transpiration.Topographically,Bocas is characterizedby low, rolling
hills and ridges that extend to the water's edge. There are neither broad coastal
plainsnor many beaches.
The archeologicalsite of Cerro Brujo is found toward the tip of the small
Aguacate Peninsula,away from major riversbut accessible to two lagoons (Fig.
2). The "community pattern" represented is that of a dispersedhamlet con-
sisting of four localities markedby shell-middenclusters.Withinthe hamlet unit,
the localities nearest each other were 300 m apart;the two most distant were

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"Garden Hunting" in the American Tropics 333

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334 Linares

Fig. 2. Looking into Almirante Bay from a ridge on the Aguacate Peninsula.

800 m apart. We have calculated the adult residentialpopulation at CerroBrujo

as approximately25 persons(Linaresand Ranere, 1971; Linares,1970).
The principal biotopes utilized by the Cerro Brujo and other Aguacate
inhabitantscan be listed as follows:
1. Terrestrialbiotopes: (1) Ridgetops between the 80 and 140 m contours
were used for habitation and possibly for small kitchen gardens and
tree crops. (b) The 40 and 80 m contour was probablyused for swidden
fields. (c) Streamsflowing through the base of the ridgesprovided the
only source of fresh water and were probablyfavoritespots for garden-
ing and hunting. (d) Low-lying swamps are used nowadays to collect
crabs and to gatherpalm products. These are difficult areasto traverse.
2. Littoral or marine biotopes: (a) Mangrovestandsand mud flats fringing
the shore were used for gatheringtwo species of Ostrea,two species of
Arca, and a species ofd7ama. This is also the natural habitat of the
caiman, which was occasionally hunted. (b) From shoreline to about
2 fathoms, or approximately4 m, are coral outcrops, barrierreefs, and
other habitats where most inshore fishing took place. (c) Offshore
beyond 2 fathoms are found largerpelagic fish, most of which were not
taken, suggestingthat the open sea was mostly used for green turtle
fishing and for transportation.

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"GardenHunting"in the AmericanTropics 335

The bulk of the cultural materialsexcavated at Cerro Brujo came from

two main midden clusters (Fig. 3), representinga brief occupation. Five radio-
carbon estimates fall between A.D. 960 and A.D. 985. A 20-30 year occupa-
tion accordswell with the time span of a contemporaryGuaymi hamlet.
Close similaritiesexist between the oldest of the CerroBrujoartifactsand
those from a number of sites in the neighboringhighlandsof Chiriquiprovince
(see Linareset al., 1975). I have suggestedelsewhere(Linares,in press) that the
Cerro Brujo inhabitants migrated to their peninsularsetting from landlocked
interior habitats. This hypothesis is corroboratedby the absence of molluscs in
the oldest levels, as well as by the close chronological and spatial overlaps.
A thorough survey of the AguacatePeninsulain 1973 revealedonly three
additional archeologicalsites. These resemble Cerro Brujo in size, layout, and
chronology (Fig. 4). Each site was made up of severaldwellinglocalities, marked
by shell-middenrefusedeposits, foundwithin an area 1.5-2 km in diameter.Since
each loose cluster of localities was separatedfrom similarunits by tracts of un-
inhabited territory, I am assumingthat each correspondedto a dispersedhamlet
(what Young, 1971, calls a caseri'o amongthe modernGuaymi who inhabit this
area). These ancient hamlets were usually located on the highest ridges of the
AguacatePeninsula,at spots with both lagoons in view. Populationdensities over
the entire peninsula at A.D. 900 can be roughly estimated as no more than 3
personsper squarekilometer.

Fig. 3. Aerial photograph of the principal Cerro Brujo shell-midden cluster in process of
excavation. (Lower trench is 10 by 6.5 m.)

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336 Linares

(CA-1,-2, -4).

Except for a deforested zone along the only major alluvialareasin Bocas
(the Changuinola-Sixaolaon the west and the Cricamolaon the east), the prov-
ince presentsa mosaic of small clearingsin the midst of extensive forested tracts.
The vegetation is typically a "dense growth of large, predominantlybroad-leaf
evergreen,trees" (Gordon, 1969: 5) mixed with a few deciduousspecies. Before
proceeding, we must consider in some detail whether the ecology of the area
today is similar to that of late pre-Columbiantimes. (For places referredto in
this discussion,see Fig. 1.)
Scholars have argued quite persuasively that much of the New World
tropics was heavily populated and extensively cultivated in late prehistoric
times (Gordon, 1957; Sauer, 1966; Dobyns, 1966; Bennett, 1964; Lathrap,
1970). Some areas, however, were not, and the interfiuvial zone bordering
AlmiranteBay, including the AguacatePeninsula,seems to have been one of the

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"Garden Hunting" in the American Tropics 337

relatively undisturbed regions.2 Given the limitations of the early Spanish des-
criptions of Panama (Howe, 1974: 12-18; Young, 1970), we must turn to
archeology for evidence of population distribution and man-induced vegeta-
tional changesat the time of occupation of the Bocas sites.
The shell mounds of Almirante Bay and Chiriqui Lagoon were first de-
scribed by Gordon (1961), who concludes, in a later publication, that the
"shell collectors must have been numerous. . ." (Gordon, 1969: 67). Although
Gordon's description of the Bocas environmentis invaluable,his archeological
interpretationsmay be misleading.Most of the shell-middensdescribed(Gordon,
1961: map 2; 1969: map 4, p. 68) are very small. They are not to be taken as
archeological "sites" (i.e., hamlet clusters in this context), but as dwelling
localities or garbagedumps, to be exact-some of them associatedwith at most
a single house. (Thus, while Gordon's map indicates nine "sites" in Aguacate
Peninsula, our survey shows only four dispersed hamlets.) Furthermore,these
localities were probablyoccupied only for a short time. Incidentally,in the years
between our excavations of Cerro Brujo and a systematic survey of Aguacate
Peninsula, the Guaymi Indian family living in the vicinity of our site, much in
the manner of their ancestors (Linares, 1970), has shifted residence twice,
abandoningan old house and building two new structures. All this has taken
place in 3 years, within a radius of less than 1 km, and is a normal procedure
in the developmental cycle of the Guaymi domestic group (Young, 1971).
There is little evidence, then, that in the late prehistoricperiod Almirante
Bay or its immediate vicinity was much more heavily populated or disturbed
by man than it is now. This impression is strengthenedby the palynological
record. None of the 18 samples preparedfor analysisfrom one of the two cores
collected from freshwaterbogs about 100 m from the CerroBrujo hamlet con-
tained pollen of agriculturalplants: "Pollens which may indicate disturbance,
cheno-ams, composites, Cecropia sp. and grasses are rare in the samples ex-
amined .... With a cursory look such as this it appears that there is no record
of forest disturbanceby man in the Core CBII" (West, n.d.: 1), or at least no
recordof majordisturbancesover a long period of time.

THE CERROBRUJOFAUNA: SOMECULTURALINFERENCES

Over 6000 mammal bones were recovered from the shell-containing

(i.e., more recent) of the two occupations at the CerroBrujo site. These, plus
other animalbones, make up 15,000 specimens altogether.Grayson(1973) has

2A careful reading of Fernando Colon's account of his father's fourth voyage in 1502 (re-
produced in Lothrop, 1950: 3-7) conflrms this point. Although he mentions encounter-
ing Indians in Almirante Bay, the only places where he talks about towns and many peoples
are in Catiba, Zobrare, etc. These places are about 200 km to the east of Almirante Bay, in
northern Veraguas province.

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338 Linares

classified the mammalsinto 1437 identifiablespecimensbelongingto 14 species

(excluding man) and then calculated the "minimumnumbers of individuals"of
each species. Keeping in mind that there are difficulties with this method,3 we
can pi ceed with our analysis. Table I suggests that the CerroBrujoinhabitants
had strong hunting preferences for certain species. Agouti (Dasyprocta punc-
tata), paca (Cuniculus paca), and nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novem-
cintus) togetherconstitute 80.9%of all animalstaken. Fourlargespecies-collared
peccary (Tayassu tajacu), white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari), white-tailed
deer (Odocoileus virginianus),brocket deer (Mazamaamericana)-are less impor-
tant, amountingto 10.1%of the total. The rats (Sigmodon,Oryzomys,Hoplomys)
and the opossums (Caluromys,Marmosa)together add up to only 6.8% of the
total number of minimum individualmammals.The manatee (Trichechusman-
atus), an aquaticmammal,is only 1.9%of the total.4
Table I may convey the impression that smallmammalswere the only im-
portant components of the Cerro Brujo diet; however, any such impressionis
dispelled if we convert these values to butchered weights (Table II) and add up
the values for the samespeciesas groupedabove. Conversionto butcheredweights
changesthe percentagesconsiderably,andit is obviousthat in reckoning"cultural
importance"both measuresare needed to drawconclusions.5 The two methods
become more disparatewhen the smaller(or the larger)animalsare compared.
This is exaggeratedin the case of agoutis and manatees. Both of these animals
were probably equal in importance: the caviomorphrodents (agouti and paca)
were important for regularconsumption and the manatee for intermittent con-
sumption. Whethertheir combined presence is calculated in individualnumbers

'The minimum numbers method (MNI for short) determines the necessary number of in-
dividuals of a species accounting for all identical bone elements found in a given collec-
tion. Using the Cerro Brujo fauna, Grayson (1973) demonstrated that the MNIs vary
significantly depending on the analytic units used for the calculations. He compared MNIs
calculated on the basis of single excavation strata with MNIs calculated on the basis of the
whole site. Neither of these alternatives is entirely satisfactory. Therefore, White (n.d.),
at my request, reanalyzed the Cerro Brujo fauna and calculated MNIs on the basis of nine
"features" representing activity loci within a dwelling locality. As expected, he came out
with more accurate values, halfway between those obtained by Grayson. Nonetheless,
since both methods yielded a similar rank order for the most important species, I have
used Grayson's MNI figures based on the single strata distinctions because these figures
are published, and because I consider them to be the less distorting of the alternatives he
presents. Skeptics should keep in mind that differential bone preservation, distribution,
and destruction, to say nothing about differences in cultural practices (hunting techniques,
taboos, food preferences), necessarily affect a-ll faunal analysis-as indeed they affect all
kinds of prehistoric reconstructions.
4R. White (n.d.) recalculated the percentages for each of these species clusters as (a) 7 3.8%;
(b) 16.8%; (c) 7.4%; (d) 0.9%. He is also of the opinion that, of the two, only the collared
peccary was present in the Cerro Brujo fauna. This strengthens the thesis of this article.
5White (n.d.) would rank the most important species by butchered weight in the following
order of decreasingimportance:Tayassu,Odocoileus,Cuniculus,Trichechus,Dasyprocta,
and Dasypus. This rank order strengthens the argument that small mammals were not the
only ones taken by the Cerro Brujo group.

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"Garden Hunting" in the American Tropics 339

Table I. List of Mammals Hunted by the Prehistoric Cerro Brujo Inhabitantsa

Number of Minimum
Species English name specimens numbers Percent
Dasyproctapunctata Agouti 822 204 43.8
Cuniculuspaca Paca 224 104 22.3
Dasypusnovemcintus Nine-banded armadillo 186 69 14.8
Tayassutajacu Collared peccary 94 27 05.8
Sigmodon Cotton rat 28 16 03.4
Odocoileusvirginianus White-tailed deer 20 14 03.0
Oryzomys Rice rat 16 11 02.4
Tayassupecari White-lipped peccary 15 4 00.9
Hoplomys Armored rat 8 3 00.6
Didelphis narsupialis Opossum 5 1 00.2
Mazamaamericana Brocket deer 3 2 00.4
Caluromys Woolly opossum 2 1 00.2
Marmosa Mouse opossum 1 1 00.2
Trichechusmanatus Manatee 13 9 01.9
Total 1437 466

aAdapted from Grayson (1973: Table 2, p. 436).

Table II. Comparison of the Minimum Number of Individualsa with the Butchered
Weight of the Most Important Mammals at Cerro Brujo

Minimum Butchered weights

number of
Species individualsb Kilograms Pounds Percent of total

Agouti 43.8 556 1224 16.7

Paca 22.3 709 1560 21.3
Nine-banded armadillo 14.8 219 483 06.6
Collared peccary 5.8 490 1080 14.8
Cotton rat 3.4 4.09 9 0.12
White-tailed deer 3.0 382 840 11.5
Rice rat 2.4 1 2.4 0.06
White-lipped peccary 0.9 91 200 2.73
Opossum 0.2 9 90 0.27
Woolly opossum 0.2 3.6 8 0.10
Mouse opossum 0.2 <2.0 <4.0 0.05
Brocket deer 0.4 36 80 1.09
Manatee 1.9 818 1800 24.60

aAdapted from Grayson (1973: Table 2, p. 436).

bPercent of total.

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340 Linares

Table III. Comparison of the Butchered Weights (i.e., meat without bones) of the
Terrestrial Fauna Hunted by the Cerro Brujo Inhabitantsa with the Fauna Hunted by
the Miskito Indians of Nicaraguab and the Bayano Cuna Indians of PanamaC

Cerro Brujo Miskito area Bayano Cuna

Species hunted (20-year span) (1-year sample) (14-day sample)
Agouti 16.7 Insignificant Agouti
Nine-banded armadillo 06.6 Not mentioned Insignificant
Paca 21.3 Insignificant Paca
Manatee 24.6 1.5% (Not here)
Collared peccary 14.8 0.61% Collared peccary
White-tailed deer 11.50 45.0% Not important
White-lipped peccary 2.73 50.0% White-lipped peccary
Brocket deer 1.09 0.30% Brocket deer
Tapir None 2.0% Tapir, plus two kinds
of monkeys, coati,
tree squirrels

aValues expressed as percentage of total butchered weights of all minimum number

of individuals of all species in the collection.
bData adapted from Nietschmann (1973: Tables 1 and 2).
CData adapted from Bennett (1962: Table 6, p. 42).

(1.3%) or in butchered weights (3.9%), deep-forest species such as the brocket

deer and the white-lippedpeccary are seen to have been insignificant.
A further comparison can be made (Table III) between the butchered
weights in the Cerro Brujo mammal sample and the butchered weights given
for the same specieshunted by the coastal TasbapauniMiskitoIndiansof eastern
Nicaragua(Nietschmann, 1973; I have extrapolated the information from his
Tables 21 and 22). The last column in Table III of this article simply lists the
terrestrialmammalshunted by the mainland,noncoastal, BayanoCunaof eastern
Panama(Bennett, 1962: Table 6, p. 42). Although few hard and fast conclusions
can be drawn from Table III, the comparativedata do support the idea that
Cerro Brujo inhabitantsharvesteda different proportionof a faunal community
than did the other groups. The abundantspecies at Cerro Brujoare of little im-
portance to the MiskitoIndians.In turn, the BayanoCunaregularlyhunt a num-
ber of additionalmammalianspecies.
To summarize,hunting among each of these three peoples, the Bayano
Cuna, the MiskitoIndians,and the prehistoricCerroBrujogroup, differs greatly.
The Bayano Cuna exploit the high canopy, as well as the deep forest, for game.
On the other hand, the coastal TasbapauniMiskito are maritime exploiters,
partly as a result of the commercial demand for turtles. Although they hunt
a number of other species, they focus on only two large terrestrialmammals
(the white-lipped peccary and the white-tailed deer), which they track inland
during a specified season. In the Cerro Brujo case, a considerable amount of
game was providedby six species (Table III), but only three species were regu-

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"Garden Hunting in the American Tropics 341

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342 Linares

larly caught (see Table I). An idea of just how much terrestrialgame was being
taken is providedby the next comparison.
Faunal assemblagesfrom archeologicalsites are assumed by faunal ana-
lysts to represent the products of cultural selection - samples that are biased
under human hunting pressures. Rarely, however, has anyone attempted to
measure just how far a cultural faunal assemblagedeparts from "normal"spe-
cies distributionsin undisturbedhabitats. In the present case, we can rearrange
the data on Table I and calculate the biomass of the terrestrialanimals in the
Cerro Brujo collection.6 This procedure may facilitate comparison between a
"cultural faunal assemblage"and the same assemblagein two "natural," i.e.,
undisturbed,habitats(Table IV).
Table IV suggests that the biomass for every species representedin the
collection is significantlyhigher in our site than is their biomass in nature. The
proposition may be entertained that the product of 20 years of casual hunting
is somehow equivalent to having recovered a complete sample of all the indi-
vidual animals of a certain species found in each of two "natural"habitats at
any one point in time. This propositionis obviously very difficult to test. None-
theless, Table IV gives us some relativeidea of "cultural"vs. "natural"biomass:
(1) The percentage biomasses of the three most common species in our Cerro
Brujo collection (agouti, paca, and armadillo) together amount to 52.9% of
the total. In the Surinamsituation, the figure for the same species is 12.7%.In
BarroColorado Island (BCI) it is 19.4%,assumingthat the biomassfor Dasypus
is more or less the same as in Surinam.(2) The collaredpeccary alone accounts
for 21.68% of the Cerro Brujo biomass, while it is only 3.5% of the total in
Surinam and 3.5% in BCI. (3) The biomass of white-tailed deer at Cerro Brujo
was much higherthan at BCI(compare 19.55%with 0.6%).
If we now take into consideration the full data presented by Eisenberg
and Thorington (1973) for all terrestrialand arborealmammalianspecies (the
bats excepted) in Surinam and BCI, and compare these with those for our
faunal collection of mammals,we see that at those two localities not one of the
most dominant mammals(in terms of biomass) appearsin our collections. This
suggests that the CerroBrujopeople were being extremely selective, or that they
did not develop appropriatehunting techniques. They seem to have been ignor-
ing many of tl'e following common animals:(1) the two-toed sloth (Choleopus
sp.) and the three-toed sloth (Bradypus sp.); (2) monkeys of several genera
(Cebus, Ateles, Alouatta, etc.); (3) tapir (Tapirus sp.); (4) the spiny rat (Pro-
echimys sp.), one of the most abundant of the New World tropical rodents

'I have used Eisenbergand Thorington's(1973) method for calculatingbiomass.This in-

volved multiplyingthe numbersof individualanimalsby the live weight of an "average"
adult specimen and then calculatingthe percentagebiomassof each species in the Cerro
Brujo collection. The difficulties with using average-weightsare illustratedby the fact
that Eisenbergand Thorington(1973: Table 1, p. 152) and Nietschmann(1973: Table
20, p. 165) presentslightlydifferentlive weightsfor the samespecies.

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"Garden Hunting" in the American Tropics 343

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344 Linares

(Gliwicz, 1973); (5) the coati (Nasua sp.), as well as squirrels(Sciuridae) and
raccoon (Procyon). The absenceof these animalsin our collection cannot be due
to simple deforestation or game depletion. As I have indicated, one must assume
that the land was at least as forested then as it is now. Furthermore,some of
these animals,e.g., coatis, would have flourishedin second growth.
By compiling a list of the main behavioral traits of terrestrialmammals
appearingin our Cerro Brujo collection (Table V), and consideringthe habits
and habitats of the mammals that do not appearin the refuse of this site, we
can see two things. The most abundantanimalspresent are either smallish ani-
mals that live in the underbrushor in burrows, often in the vicinity of encamp-
ments or recently clearedfields (the caviomorphrodent and armadillo),or larger
forms that are not too shy and live - or can live - in forest-edgeconditions (the
collared peccary and the white-tailed deer). The mammalsmissingaltogetheror
poorly represented are either those that inhabit the high canopy (monkeys,
sloths) or those that are fast climbers(coatis, squirrels)or those that are very shy
and live in forested conditions away from man (the brocket deer and the tapir).
In short, although largeforest tracts must have existed in Bocas at that time, the

Table VI. List of Fish, Amphibians, and Reptiles from Cerro Brujoa

Minimum
Species Colloquial name numbers Percentage
Megalops-Albula Tarpon 6 2.2
Belonidae Needlefish 7 2.6
Centropomus Snook 53 19.3
Serranidae Grouper (sea bass) 53 19.3
Carangidae Jack 21 7.7
Lutjanus Snapper 38 13.9
Haemulon Grunt 10 3.6
Sparidae Porgies 3 1.1
Sciaenidae Drums (corvina) 1 0.4
Sparus sp. Parrotfish 4 1.5
Eleotridae Gobies 3 1.1
Kyphosus Rudderfish 1 0.4
Sphyraena Barracuda 6 2.2
Diodontidae Porcupine fish 16 5.8
Rays Rays 5 1.8
Sharks Sharks 2 0.7
Anuran Frogs 7 2.6
Crocodilian Caiman 5 1.8
Geoemyda Forest turtle 1 0.4
Chelonidae Sea turtle 19 6.9

aAdapted from a list by Wing (n.d.). The minimum number of in-

dividuals is given only for the most recent of the two occupations.

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"Garden Hunting" in the American Tropics 345

Cerro Brujo inhabitants were concentrating on species that live in forest-edge

conditions and readilyinvademan-madeclearings.
Evidence supportingthe idea that this specializationwas facilitatedby the
presence of alternativeprotein sources from the sea is given in Table VI. The
total minimum number of individualfish, reptiles, and amphibiansin Table VI,
havingbeen calculatedon a differentbasis from that of Grayson(1973), although
on the same basis as that of White (see footnote 4), appearsto be smallerthan
that of mammals.But marine fishing may have been even more importantthan
terrestrialhunting (White and Wing, personal communications). In fact, Cerro
Brujo people were capable of taking in large, and sometimesdangerous,aquatic
organisms.The most common edible species in Table VI (Centropomus,serranid,
carangid,Lutianus) also grow very large. Missingfrom the collection are the
open-waterpelagic fish that swim rapidly, such as the tuna and the mackerel.
Themost common fish speciesin the collection occurinshoreand can be harvested
with traps and spears. Such harvestingaccords well with the absenceof all fish-
hooks and net weights in the CerroBrujo deposits. If traps and spearswere the
most common fishing gear employed (Wingand Rubinoff, personalcommunica-
tions), then the techniques employed for getting protein on land and in the sea
were probably much the same. It is also important to note the scarcityof birds
in our-collection (less than 20 bones; Grayson, personal communication)and
the total absence of arborealreptilessuch as iguanasand lizards(Rand, personal
communication).

CONCLUSIONS

For inferringman-inducedvegetational changes in the areas around the

CerroBrujo encampment,and reconstructinghuntingpractices,we can contrast
mammalianpairsfound in our collection (see Fig. 5). In the tropics, as elsewhere,
speciesof the samefamily have evolvedcontrastingmorphologiesand/or behavior
and occupy different ecological niches. Comparingthe popularity of related
speciesin the collections is a useful method for inferringpast conditions:
1. The white-lipped vs. the collared peccary: The first does not occur
(White, personal communication), or occurs in very small numbers
(Grayson, 1973), in our collection. The reasonfor this may be that the
white-lipped(although it travelsin huge packs) is also more dangerous,
especially to hunters without guns, and cannot be caught in traps.
Further, a pack needs a largehome rangeand probablya largeforest. In
contrast, the collared peccary travelsin small packs, is more peaceful,
needs smallerterritories,and is used to livingin disturbedconditions. It
readily eats cultivated crops. Collaredpeccaries also do well as semi-
domesticatesof man.

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346 Linares

G
Fig. 5. Most important mammal ter-
restrial species at Cerro Brujo. (A)
Mazama americana (brocket deer);
(B) Dasyproctapunctata(agouti); (C)
Cuniculuspaca (paca); (D) Dasypus
novemcintus(nine-banded armadillo);
(E) Tayassutajacu(collared peccary);
(F) Tayassupecani (white-lipped pec-
cary); (G) Odocoileus virginianus
(white-tailed deer). Drawings by M. H.
Moynihan. F

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"Garden Hunting" in the American Tropics 347

2. White-taileddeer vs. the brocket deer: The open brush and grassland
species (Odocoileus)wasalmostseventimesmorepopularat CerroBrujo
than the small, crepuscular,solitary, shy, forest-dwellingbrocket deer
(Mazama).Becausethe white-taileddeer can withstandheavy harvesting
by man, it was probably one of the few large species that could be
hunted nearhome, in clearedand cultivatedfields.
3. The agouti and the paca were hunted in CerroBrujo in numbers dis-
proportionate to their natural biomass (Table IV). As N. Smythe has
observed (personal communication), the ratio of one species to the
other in our collections (roughly four times as many agoutis as pacas)
conformsto theirnaturaldensities;the agouti,however,is more diurnal.
Smythe's suggestion that the Cerro Brujoinhabitantsmust have been
using snaresand traps, which are effective day or night, conformsvery
well to hunting practices as reconstructed from artifactual evidence.
Furthermore,these caviomorphrodentseat all sorts of cultivatedplants,
including rootcrops and fruits. They live under tree trunks and inside
rotten logs (Smythe, 1970). The perfect environmentfor them is the
sort found, for example, in the slashed and mulched fields of the
Guaymi of Bocas; becauseof the constant rains,these fields are burned
but infrequently.
For additional inferences on hunting practices, we have noted the total
absence in our collection of monkeys, sloths, and climbing species (such as
squirrels and coatis). The likelihood that the Cerro Brujo group did not use
projectile weapons (blowguns, arrows, etc.) with which to fell animals in the
higher canopy is increased by the fact that these items are missing in our ex-
cavations. But such negative evidence is inconclusive,especially since the hunt-
ing gear employed today by a tropical forest group is normally made entirely
of perishablematerials.
As I have previously suggested, the Cerro Brujo people probably origi-
nated inland. Two main shifts in hunting were made once these groupsmigrated
to the coast. Onewas to a smallrangeof terrestrialanimals,the other to marineani-
mals. The new terrestrialhunting adaptation that was devisedand is represented
at CerroBrujois what I have called "gardenhunting" because in all likelihood
it took place in and near cultivated fields and house gardens.7In this dual sys-
tem, animal protein and carbohydratesare spatially concentrated and their

Gardenhuntingis still the predominantform of huntingamongmanyinlandSouth Amer-

ican groups, including the Guaymi and Cuna Indiansof Panama.The ChiriquiGuaymi
until recentlypole-fencedtheir root crops,and built huts in theirmaize-beanfields, where
they stayed overnightto hunt (J. Bort, personalcommunication).Amongthe islandCuna,
who hunt on the mainland,guardingcrops is such an importantfunction of the hunt that
a man can freely kill animalsin anotherman's field (Gonzilez, personalcommunication),
while he cannot even touch the other man's crops without complying with elaborate
accessrules(Howe and Sherzer,1975).

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348 Linares

abundancevis a vis each other is regulated.By reducingseasonalityand schedul-

ing problems, gardenhunting was analogousto, and may have even substituted
for, actual animaldomestication.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The CerroBrujo excavations were financed by a grant from the National

Science Foundation (NSF-Gr-2846). Besides myself as principalinvestigator,a
number of colleagues and students participated in the project. Among them I
should like to mention Dr. Anthony J. Ra-nere(archeologist),Dr. Philip Young
(ethnographer),and MissE. JaneRosenthal,MissIreneBorgono, and Mr.M'aximo
Miranda,all graduatestudents now. Special thanks are owed to Dr. Donald K.
Grayson, who did the initial mammalianidentifications, and to Mr. Richard S.
White, Jr., who reanalyzed the data. Dr. Elizabeth Wing identified the fish,
reptiles, and amphibians, and Mr. James West analyzed some of the palyno-
logical cores. I should like to thank Wing, White, and West for permissionto
refer to their unpublishedreports.
This article has been enriched by the comments of my colleagues at the
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, namely Drs. MartinH. Moynihan, A.
Stanley Rand, Ira Rubinoff, Neal G. Smith, and most specially Nicholas Smythe.
Data on the modern Guaymi have been kindly provided by Mr. John Bort and
on the San Blas Cunaby the second chief of Niatuppu-Tikantikki,Mr.Gonzalez.

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