ABSTRACT
Columbus' celebrated voyage and subsequent ones brought great changes to the aboriginal way of life and the faunas of the western hemisphere. Some of the Spanish traditions of animal use and exploitation had an impact on the aboriginal populations, modifying them in a more profound way than any influence during the previous centuries of stability. Studies of the animal remains from three pairs of prehistoric and historic sites in Florida and Haiti are used here to illustrate the magnitude of the changes and the types of changes which took place. The impact of Spanish culture and animal introductions into the southeast and Caribbean was profound. The rapid adaptation of the introduced animals modified the New World environments. The small herd animals, sheep and goats, were important in traditional Spanish husbandry and would have been easily transported. The introduction of Spanish traditions of animal procurement and uses, and the introduction of domestic animals changed the western hemisphere almost immediately and permanently.
