Ancient Civilization in Mexico Bred, Raised, Ate Rabbits Seeker
go to original August 18, 2016

Shown is an illustration of the leporid sculpture from the Oztoyahualco compound of Teotihuacan. (F. Botas)

Native people living in the ancient city of Teotihuacan, now a World Heritage site located in modern-day Mexico, likely bred rabbits to eat and used their bones for tools, researchers said Wednesday.

The study in the open-access journal PLOS ONE represents one of the first known examples of small mammal breeding in an indigenous culture that existed from the first to the seventh century AD.

"Because no large mammals such as goats, cows or horses were available for domestication in pre-Hispanic Mexico, many assume that Native Americans did not have as intensive human-animal relationships as did societies of the Old World," said lead author Andrew Somerville, a researcher at the University of California, San Diego.

"Our results suggest that citizens of the ancient city of Teotihuacan engaged in relationships with smaller and more diverse fauna, such as rabbits and jackrabbits, and that these may have been just as important as relationships with larger animals."

Many archaeological excavations have been done at the site, which covers eight square miles (20 square kilometers) and was home to some 100,000 residents, making it the largest urban center of its time, said the study.

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Related: High-Tech Imaging Reveals Rare Precolonial Mexican Manuscript Hidden from View for 500 Years (Fine Books Magazine)

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