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Hunting Hoppers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David B. Madsen
Affiliation:
Antiquities Section, Utah State Historical Society, 300 Rio Grande, Salt Lake City, UT 84101-1182
James E. Kirkman
Affiliation:
Antiquities Section, Utah State Historical Society, 300 Rio Grande, Salt Lake City, UT 84101-1182

Abstract

Lakeside Cave deposits spanning the last 5,000 years contain evidence of grasshopper (Melanoplus sanguinipes) use. Abundant ethnographic/ethnohistoric data suggest the widespread use of hoppers and other insects. Procurement strategies may be unique to the Great Salt Lake area. During the summer, salted and sun-dried hoppers are washed up on beaches and form windrows up to .2 m× 1.5 m× 15 km Hoppers produce over 3,010 kcal/ kg, and return rates average 272,649 kcal/hour. Digestible proportions have not been determined, but even at a return rate well below the experimental value, optimality models suggest hopper collection should be favored over all other collected resources.

Information

Type
Reports
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1988

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