Analysis and Identification of Faunal Remains at the Vieau Site, Racine County
Mentor 1
Dr. Robert Sasso
Location
Union Wisconsin Room
Start Date
24-4-2015 10:30 AM
End Date
24-4-2015 11:45 AM
Description
The Vieau Site was an important fur trading post occupied by brothers Jacques Vieau, Jr., and Louis Vieau adjacent to a local Potawatomi village located at Franksville, Wisconsin, in the early 1800s. The site was surveyed and excavated by the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and the Kenosha Public Museum between 2002 and 2012, yielding many thousands of artifacts, including, over one thousand faunal remains. Individual specimens were identified and categorized by the likelihood of conclusive specie identification. Approximately 100 specimens were proved to be identifiable to some meaningful level. Preliminary examinations and tentative identifications were conducted at UW-Parkside using available print resources. After tentative identification I transported the faunal remains in sections to UW-Milwaukee’s Archaeology Laboratory. UW-Milwaukee provided a comparative osteological collection for a verification. The final identification yielded several different species including domesticated species such as cattle, pig, sheep, and goat, and wild species such as opossum, raccoon, and muskrat. While many of the domesticated species identified can be inferred to be present due to the later use of the site as a farm, other animals have the potential to be linked to the fur trading activity between the Vieau brothers and the Potawatomi.
Analysis and Identification of Faunal Remains at the Vieau Site, Racine County
Union Wisconsin Room
The Vieau Site was an important fur trading post occupied by brothers Jacques Vieau, Jr., and Louis Vieau adjacent to a local Potawatomi village located at Franksville, Wisconsin, in the early 1800s. The site was surveyed and excavated by the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and the Kenosha Public Museum between 2002 and 2012, yielding many thousands of artifacts, including, over one thousand faunal remains. Individual specimens were identified and categorized by the likelihood of conclusive specie identification. Approximately 100 specimens were proved to be identifiable to some meaningful level. Preliminary examinations and tentative identifications were conducted at UW-Parkside using available print resources. After tentative identification I transported the faunal remains in sections to UW-Milwaukee’s Archaeology Laboratory. UW-Milwaukee provided a comparative osteological collection for a verification. The final identification yielded several different species including domesticated species such as cattle, pig, sheep, and goat, and wild species such as opossum, raccoon, and muskrat. While many of the domesticated species identified can be inferred to be present due to the later use of the site as a farm, other animals have the potential to be linked to the fur trading activity between the Vieau brothers and the Potawatomi.
