ABSTRACT
Small animal remains have proved to be valuable indicators of ancient habitats even when brought into the site by man. One of the most common wild species was the Mexican spiny pocket mouse, Liomys irroratus irroratus , which amounted to 31.1% of the sample. Most small rodent remains appeared in contexts that suggested that they had been deposited in the form of owl pellets, presumably at times when there were no people in the cave. In addition to small rodent skeletons, the sample of owl pellets from Cueva de los Afligidos contained the remains of a few small birds, evidently songbirds that had been active during the hours when the barn owls were hunting. In summary, the songbirds from owl pellets, while very few in number, do nothing to upset the notion of general environmental similarity between the Naquitz phase and modern times.
