Protein metabolism and the archaeological record: Implications for ancient subsistence strategies

John Speth and Katherine Spielmann's 1983 article “Energy Source, Protein Metabolism, and Hunter-Gatherer Subsistence Strategies” has provoked substantial research and debate during the past four decades. Their study has led to new insights concerning hunting and fishing, plant foraging and management, land tenure, and human health. In so doing, it has helped us challenge a number of orthodoxies in anthropological archaeology. In this paper I re-introduce the original article and then follow with a discussion of archaeological cases that reflect some of its wider impacts.