University of Virginia Library

Odocoileus hemionus—(Mule Deer) 8.2%

The specific variety represented in this instance is probably
Odocoileus hemionus hemionus although no positive identification
may be made from the skeletal material. These deer bones occurred
in fair numbers both as refuse in the room fill and as material
for implements. It will be noticed also that the mule deer
was apparently quite as much used in Pueblo I as in the later level,
or perhaps even more so inasmuch as other species seem to be
absent in the early period. The deer bones were almost invariably
broken so that only joints and slivers of the shafts remained. This
is, of course, a common expedient among primitive people for extracting

the marrow. Undoubtedly many of the hundreds of fragments
of unidentified bones are referable to this species although
it is impossible of proof.

The source of these deer is only a matter of conjecture, but it
is not impossible that many of them may have come from the
immediate neighborhood. Stories of old informants have much to
say of the game formerly inhabiting the low country and piñonjuniper
country where it is now completely absent.