The importance of animal resources within economies of historic Northern Iroquois tribes has been largely overlooked by anthropologists. Recent studies of known ethnohistorical sources on Iroquois animal use including the analysis of archaeofaunal data from four Susquehannock village sites, dating ca AD 1575–1685, provide valuable information on the fundamental role played by animals within both subsistence and political economies. A significant finding is that Susquehannock villages altered animal procurement patterns over time in response to four factors: 1) hunter density, 2) native incentives, 3) military risk, and 4) new technologies. It is argued that the observed trends represent alternate strategies devised to harvest desired levels of meat and valuable furs economically and safely under the rapidly changing conditions of the 17th century.
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