Following white-tailed deer to the hilltop: A zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis of deer hunting at Cerro Mangote, a Late Preceramic (7800-4600 cal yr BP) site in central Pacific Panama

The white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmermann 1780) was an apex species for Precolumbian subsistence in the anthropogenic savannas and tropical dry forests bordering Parita Bay on the central Pacific coast of Panama. This paper focusses on Late Preceramic Cerro Mangote, a multi-component site whose domestic occupation corresponds to a maximum time-period of 7900 and 4600 cal BP. At this time, this site's inhabitants developed mixed...