Animal Husbandry and Colonial Adaptive Behavior: Isotopic Insights from the La Belle Shipwreck Fauna

Changing social and economic practices had an important role for human adaptive strategies in colonial contexts and sometimes had profound consequences for emerging societies. This study uses insights from stable-isotope analyses, as well as other historical and archaeological evidence, to investigate the social and economic roles of French animal husbandry as an adaptive strategy for the settlers taking part in La Salle’s famous expedition (1684–1688) to colonize the mouth of the Mississippi River. Stable carbon- and nitrogen-isotope analyses of pig bones and other faunal remains from the shipwreck, La Belle, and associated Fort Saint Louis on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico are used to evaluate specific historical accounts of colonists’ animal-husbandry practices and show that a large swine population was sustained primarily on meat from local hunting activities. In this context it is argued that, although the substantial efforts involved in raising pigs mainly on other animal products seemingly makes little economic sense, there are social explanations for what initially appears to be irrational behavior. This study provides an example of how stable-isotope analyses of animal-husbandry practices can contribute to understanding social processes through historical archaeology.

Abstract Changing social and economic practices had an important role for human adaptive strategies in colonial contexts and sometimes had profound consequences for emerging societies. This study uses insights from stable-isotope analyses, as well as other historical and archaeological evidence, to investigate the social and economic roles of French animal husbandry as an adaptive strategy for the settlers taking part in La Salle's famous expedition (1684)(1685)(1686)(1687)(1688) to colonize the mouth of the Mississippi River. Stable carbon-and nitrogenisotope analyses of pig bones and other faunal remains from the shipwreck, La Belle, and associated Fort Saint Louis on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico are used to evaluate specific historical accounts of colonists' animal-husbandry practices and show that a large swine population was sustained primarily on meat from local hunting activities. In this context it is argued that, although the substantial efforts involved in raising pigs mainly on other animal products seemingly makes little economic sense, there are social explanations for what initially appears to be irrational behavior. This study provides an example of how stable-isotope analyses of animal-husbandry practices can contribute to understanding social processes through historical archaeology.

Introduction
Understanding human adaptive behavior in colonial contexts has become an important research theme, not only in the historical era, e.g., Graham et al. (2007:28) and McEwan (1986), but in all time periods and contexts, e.g., Dugmore et al. (2012) and Kirch (1997). This is because adaptive strategies developed by new immigrants could have profound implications for the success or failure of a colony and could also set the stage for long-term trends in cultural change, e.g., Blanton (2003) and Dugmore et al. (2007). For new arrivals in many early colonial contexts, animal husbandry and related subsistence activities represented the front line of articulation between their culture and their new environment (Reitz 1992;Landon 2009;Reitz and Waselkov 2015). For this reason, the choices involved in animalhusbandry practices are likely to reflect key social and economic processes that may be less visible in other areas of the archaeological and historical record, e.g., Anderson (2002).
Archaeological excavations by the Texas Historical Commission (THC) of the 17th-century shipwreck La Belle (41MG86, hereafter LB) (Bruseth and Turner 2004;Bruseth, Borgens et al. 2017) and the associated temporary settlement of Fort Saint Louis (41VT4, hereafter FSL) (Bruseth, Durst et al. 2004) in present-day Texas provide an unprecedented opportunity to explore in detail the decisions a group of European settlers made while adapting to an unfamiliar setting in the New World (Fig. 1). These sites represent the first few years (1684-1688) of French settlement on the northwest coast of the Gulf of Mexico and preserve evidence for La Salle's famed attempt to colonize the mouth of the Mississippi River (Gilmore 1973(Gilmore , 1986Carlin and Keith 1997;Keith et al. 1997;Davis and Bruseth 2000;Weddle 2001;Carrell 2003;Durst 2009).
Archaeological and historical sources reveal an impressive wealth of evidence for what happened during La Salle's expedition. A remarkable series of firsthand accounts from historical participants (Cavelier 1861;Le Clercq 1881;Minet 1987;Talon and Talon 1987;Joutel 1998;Meunier 1998) 1 describe how colonists behaved opportunistically, taking advantage of whatever new resources were readily at hand, particularly when it came to subsistence (Talon and Talon 1987:226-228,232-233;Joutel 1998:60-61,76-77,79-81,99,123-125). These historical reports are complemented by analyses of faunal remains and point 1 Some of these accounts, particularly La Salle's, are thought to be less reliable; e.g., see Foster (1998:28). In this article we lean most heavily on the more widely respected accounts of Henri Joutel, who wrote most comprehensively about daily life for colonists at FSL. to a diet heavily reliant on the bounty of local wild fauna (Meissner 2003;Bruseth and Turner 2004;Bruseth, Durst et al. 2004;deFrance 2017). However, historical documents also clearly outline a contrasting scenario in which new colonists went to surprising lengths to maintain some of their traditional European subsistence practices, a strategy that this article will argue relates to cultural identity, rather than simply to survival. In particular, these sources emphasize how settlers allocated significant resources to swine husbandry despite the local abundance of wild foods (Talon and Talon 1987:226-228,232-233;Joutel 1998:123-125). In the context of La Salle's expedition objective, the dual subsistence strategies focusing on both wild and domestic resources seem at odds with one another. Unfortunately, relatively little archaeological evidence remains with which to directly explore these animal-husbandry practices at FSL or to confirm associated historical accounts.
The stable-isotope composition of pig remains provides one line of evidence with which to correlate husbandry practices and the historical accounts of the colonial undertaking. A key recurring detail in the historical record is that the colonists' pig-husbandry operation was supported primarily by meat from local hunting activities, especially from bison (Joutel 1998:122,128,129,140,149). If historical pig-husbandry practices in the first years of settlement involved feeding pigs mainly on bison and other meat, a distinctive isotopic signature in the remains of associated pigs that were available from LB for analysis might be expected. This expectation is based on historical documents indicating that, around the time that LB was wrecked, at least eight pigs raised at FSL were aboard, and these may constitute a large part of the archaeological assemblage available for analysis from LB. In this article, we use stable carbon-and nitrogen-isotope analyses of faunal remains to assess whether husbandry practices for animals recovered from La Salle's expedition are consistent with those described in associated historical accounts, specifically that pigs were fed a diet of bison meat and other meat. We use these data to investigate the contrasting cultural and economic rationales behind the colonists' animal-husbandry and subsistence activities.

Historical and Archaeological Context
Recent archaeological excavations (Bruseth, Durst et al. 2004;Bruseth and Turner 2004) and historical analyses have provided a rich source of data with which to reconstruct the events of La Salle's expedition (Weddle 1972(Weddle , 1987b(Weddle , 1991(Weddle , 2001(Weddle , 2009(Weddle , 2014Wood 1984;Galloway 1987;Foster 1998;Bruseth and Turner 2004;Meyrieux 2016). In March 1684, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle obtained backing from the French king, Louis XIV, to lead an expedition by sea into Spanish territory in the Gulf of Mexico, with the objective of establishing a French colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River. La Salle embarked on his journey from the French port of La Rochelle in July 1684 with 300 people and four ships loaded with the supplies they would need to establish their new colony (Bruseth 2017). Through an overwhelming series of misfortunes many of these would-be settlers, as well as La Salle himself, eventually perished without reaching their intended destination, but having reached the coast of modern Texas instead. The demise of La Salle's expedition had important consequences not only for those who accompanied him, but also for the global struggle between colonial powers seeking to control valuable New World territories (Weddle 1987a(Weddle , 1991Foster 1998:4,6,22-23).
By January 1685, after an arduous journey across the Atlantic Ocean and through the Caribbean islands, La Salle and his three remaining expedition ships made it to the coast of Texas (Galloway 1987;Minet 1987;Joutel 1998;Meunier 1998), where La Salle mistakenly concluded that the entrance to Matagorda Bay was a branch of the Mississippi River. Shortly after, following the wrecking of his storeship in February and in March the departure of the warship that had accompanied them, La Salle, with the remaining 180 colonists and his last ship, La Belle, established an encampment near present-day Matagorda Bay, roughly 700 km west of their intended destination (Joutel 1998:95) (Fig. 1).
By June 1685, having come to realize that Matagorda Bay was not a branch of the Mississippi, La Salle ordered the construction of a more substantial, but still temporary, settlement a few kilometers up a nearby river (Joutel 1998:101). Though relations with local Karankawa peoples quickly soured (Minet 1987:112-113;Joutel 1998:93-94;Meunier 1998:186-186) and there was a chronic shortage of building materials (Joutel 1998:102-103), colonists were able to construct a temporary base of operations, Fort St. Louis, from which La Salle would launch expeditions by land to search for the Mississippi River (Joutel 1998:102-152).
FSL was situated on high ground adjacent to Garcitas Creek, several kilometers north of Matagorda Bay ( Fig. 1) (Bolton 1915;Gilmore 1973;Tunnell 1998) in a grassland environment, but colonists could also travel to a mosaic of nearby habitats, including coastal estuaries, rivers, and woodland groves, to access an abundant and diverse range of edible wild plants and animals. (Talon and Talon 1987:226-228,232-233;Weniger 1987;Joutel 1998:123-129;McAlister and McAlister 2004). They also supplemented these foods with agricultural products, such as maize, acquired through occasional trade with the Caddo peoples to the northeast. Aside from pigs, their own attempts to grow crops and raise livestock were often unsuccessful (Talon and Talon 1987:232;Joutel 1998:102,112,129,140-141,147).
The expedition's last ship, LB, was lost the following year, in February 1686 (Joutel 1998:135-138;Weddle 2001;Bruseth and Turner 2004). LB had recently been loaded with some of the settlers, as well as livestock (mainly pigs), supplies, and provisions (particularly cured bison meat) from FSL, and her captain was instructed to follow La Salle and a party of his men (who were on land) up the coastline of Matagorda Bay during one of many expeditions to find the Mississippi River. When the members of the party turned inland to explore the area, LB was instructed to lay anchor and await their return. La Salle's delayed return ignited a grim cascade of misfortunes that led to the wrecking of LB and the loss of most of her crew, supplies, and livestock.
Over the next couple of years the remaining population of colonists at FSL dwindled, while La Salle continued launching expeditions to find the Mississippi River. Eventually, in January 1687, La Salle and a group of men attempted to trek north to Canada to find help. On this journey La Salle was killed in a mutiny and, ultimately, only six men would make it home to France (Weddle 1987a;Foster 1998). The 20 or so remaining colonists continued on for a year, but all except a handful of children were killed by a group of Karankawa peoples from late 1688 to early 1689, ending the French occupation of FSL (Weddle 1972(Weddle , 1987bTalon and Talon 1987).
Given the great historical significance of La Salle's attempt to colonize the Mississippi, LB received substantial archaeological attention after its rediscovery in 1995 (Arnold 1996a(Arnold , 1996b; Weddle 2001Weddle , 2014Bruseth and Turner 2004). Excellent preservation, as well as its meticulous cofferdam excavation, led to the recovery of a large number of well-preserved artifacts and faunal remains (825 individual bones), many which can be directly linked to these historical accounts; see deFrance (2017). Shortly after completing excavation of LB, THC began a twoand-a-half year excavation at FSL, which also produced a wealth of artifacts, as well as a large (>270,000 individual bones), but poorly preserved and highly fragmented, faunal collection (Bruseth, Durst et al. 2004).

Stable Isotope Background
Biological tissues, such as animal flesh and bone, are constructed from materials obtained through dietary intake, some of which have distinctive stable-isotope compositions. This process of incorporating molecules from diet into bodily tissues means that the stable-isotope composition of materials preserved in archaeological bone can be analyzed to explore past diet (Lee-Thorp 2008). This study focuses on stable carbon-(δ 13 C) and nitrogenisotope (δ 15 N) values in bone and tooth-dentine collagen, which primarily reflect dietary protein intake (Ambrose and Norr 1993;Tieszen and Fagre 1993). Bone remodels slowly over the lifespan of an individual and thus reflects a long-term dietary average (Hedges et al. 2007). Collagen from the primary dentine in teeth is laid down perpendicular to a tooth's growth axis in discrete, consecutive intervals and, therefore, preserves a diachronic record of diet over the time frame in which a tooth was formed (Gage et al. 1989;Hillson 2005;Guiry, Hepburn et al. 2016).
In terrestrial environments, δ 13 C values are often used to distinguish between diets that relied heavily on plants with either C 3 (lower values) or C 4 (higher values) photosynthetic pathways. In the regional context of FSL and LB, both types of plants would be available with more C 3 species in inland forests and more C 4 species in local grasslands (Weniger 1987;Joutel 1998:123-129;McAlister and McAlister 2004). A third photosynthetic pathway, Crassulacean acid metabolism, or CAM, which produces a more variable range of δ 13 C values, falling between those C 3 and C 4 plants (but closer to the C 4 end), is also present in some species that were economically useful, such as the prickly pear (Weniger 1987). Diets incorporating significant quantities of marine protein can also produce higher δ 13 C values (Chisholm et al. 1982).
Unlike δ 13 C, δ 15 N values increase significantly (3‰-5‰) between ascending steps in a foods chain (DeNiro and Epstein 1981) and, for this reason, can help identify an animal's trophic level (i.e., autotroph [plants], primary consumer [herbivores], secondary consumer [carnivores]). In marine ecosystems there are additional levels of carnivory, which in some cases can help differentiate marine and terrestrial diets (Schoeninger et al. 1983). The environmental baseline for δ 15 N values varies depending on a wide range of factors (Szpak 2014) and, notably, can be elevated in drier environments (Schwarcz et al. 1999), such as some of the areas near LB and FSL sites (Weniger 1987;Joutel 1998:123-129;McAlister and McAlister 2004).

Sampling Strategy
We selected faunal collection samples (n=36) from both the wreck of LB and the site of FSL. However, due to poor collagen preservation for bone samples at FSL, our analyses for that site include values for only two bison. All other analyses, including all domesticates (i.e., all pigs, cattle, and goats), are from LB. We analyzed 13 pig bones (minimum number of individual count [MNI]=5), as well as a selection of other domestic-(n=4) and wildanimal (n=19) remains in order to provide baseline values for interpreting the diets of pigs. For one pig, we also conducted serial sampling (n=25) of an incisor tooth perpendicular to the tooth-growth axis to assess how diet varied over time. We were also able to analyze a limited sample of bison (n=2) from FSL, despite extremely poor faunal-bone preservation at this site (Brusethet, Durst al. 2004). It is possible that bone samples from FSL could be from the later Spanish occupation at the site and, therefore, may date to a slightly broader time period (ca. 1685-1726). Where possible, samples were collected with a view to minimizing potential for analyzing the same individual multiple times (i.e., based on element, age, or pathology). We also gave sampling preference to older individuals, when available, using fusion and dental evidence (Silver 1963;Tonge and McCance 1973) in order to avoid trophic shifts reflected in the milk-feeding signal from nursing animals Frémondeau, De Cupere et al. 2017).

Isotopic Analysis
Collagen extractions followed established procedures (Brown et al. 1988). Bone samples (100-400 mg) were soaked in 0.5 M HCl at 4°C until the mineral component had dissolved and were then rinsed to neutrality in pure water. Samples were then solubilized in a 10 -3 M HCl (pH~3) solution at 75°C for 48 hours and subsequently purified using 45-90 μm Ezee filters and 30 kDa ultrafilters (Brown et al. 1988). The remaining solutions were then frozen and freeze dried for 48 hours. Collagen carbon-and nitrogen-isotopic compositions were measured in duplicate using a Vario MICRO cube elemental analyzer coupled to an Isoprime isotope-ratio mass spectrometer at the Archaeology Isotope Laboratory, University of British Columbia. Carbon-and nitrogenisotope ratios were calibrated to VPDB and AIR using USGS 40 and USGS 41. Bovine liver (NIST 1577c) as well as internal methionine and collagen standards were used to monitor analytical accuracy and precision. Carbon to nitrogen ratios (C:N between 2.9 and 3.6), as well as elemental carbon (%C>18%) and nitrogen (%N>6%) percent values were used to assess collagen integrity (DeNiro 1985).
Serial sampling of an individual pig tooth (mandiblebone sample SUBC 10268 from LB) followed procedures outlined by Guiry, Hepburn et al. (2016), with modifications following Rossman et al. (2015). Bonepowder samples (~2 mg) were demineralized in silver capsules using 100 μL of 1.0 M HCl overnight at 4°C, allowing time for unwanted carbon from the mineral phase of bone to evolve and be given off as CO 2 gas. The residual solution was then heated in an oven at 65°C for five hours to evaporate, leaving the desired organic fraction of the bone behind. Each silver capsule was then enveloped within a tin capsule to aid in the combustion process for stable-isotope analyses. Carbon-and nitrogen-isotopic compositions were measured, and collagen integrity was assessed using the same procedures as for bone-collagen extractions above.

Results
Isotopic and elemental compositions are summarized in Table 1 (full results are provided in Tables 2 and 3) and shown in Figures 2 and 3. For our environmental baseline, we have also included relevant data from wild species from other colonial contexts in the local region from a similar time period (Hard and Katzenberg 2011). Wild terrestrial and aquatic fauna produced a wide distribution of δ 13 C and δ 15 N values that are broadly consistent with their respective niches in a semiarid, subtropical coastal environment. These baseline values provide important reference points for assessing hypotheses about the diets of pigs. Bison (n=7) have very high δ 13 C (-9.4±1.4‰) and δ 15 N (+7.6±0.7‰) values, indicating a heavy reliance on C 4 grasses that falls in line with the expected foraging ecology of herbivores in the local area (Hard and Katzenberg 2011;Mauldin and Munoz 2015). White-tailed deer (n=5) have lower δ 13 C (-20.2±0.8‰) and δ 15 N (+6.0±1.1‰) values, suggesting that they had probably been hunted in a forest or other C 3 environment. Various terrestrial turtle species that are described as an important food source in the local area in historical documents (Talon and Talon 1987;Joutel 1998:128;Migaud 2011) show a tighter cluster (n=5) of δ 13 C (-16.8±1.4‰) and δ 15 N (+7.5 ±1.0‰) values that falls between those of bison and deer. Marine fish specimens (n=7) produce variable, but generally higher, δ 13 C (-13.6±2.4‰) values and higher δ 15 N (+12.3±2.9‰) values. Although one of these specimens is from an Atlantic cod specimen recovered on LB, and so almost certainly represents historically imported salt-fish remains, it is possible that other specimens could represent taphonomic inclusions added to the site at a later date. Wild fowl (n=8) produced a wide range of δ 13 C (-26.3‰ to -14.4‰) and δ 15 N (+7.7‰ to +9.2‰) values reflecting different species' diverse terrestrial and freshwater aquatic-habitat preferences.
In contrast to wild species, which largely reflect a dietary influence from C 4 or marine foods, domestic herbivores (sheep/goat n=3 and probable cattle n=1) have lower δ 13 C (-21.5±0.3‰) and δ 15 N (+7.2±1.8‰) values. These animals likely represent individuals specifically referenced in historical accounts (Joutel 1998:59,73,112) that were brought along with the colonists in hopes of establishing a breeding population when they eventually reached the Mississippi River. While it is possible that these animals were obtained during a provisioning stop in Hispaniola or elsewhere (Le Clercq 1881:209;Minet 1987:87-92;Joutel 1998:55-57,59-61,63-64), it seems more likely that they were brought from France. This is supported by their very low δ 13 C values, which are similar to those of contemporaneous, domestic herbivorous livestock raised in temperate Europe (B. Kennedy 1988;) and inconsistent with known Caribbean values from around this time (Klippel 2001;Varney 2003).     In the context of our faunal isotope baseline, the sample of pig specimens from LB (n=13) shows a remarkable range of variation spanning 13.9‰ in δ 13 C (-22.3‰ to -8.4‰) and 6.4‰ in δ 15 N (+5.1‰ to +11.4‰) (Fig. 2). For a relatively small sample of bones from a single species within the same archaeological site, this variation is extreme, but has a straightforward explanation within the framework of available historical documentation for the LB specifically and La Salle's wider expedition more generally. In particular, the bimodal distribution apparent in this variation reflects a mix of two groups of pigs that were likely raised in separate places under different animal-management regimes, with lower and higher stable-isotope values corresponding with husbandry in an Old and a New World setting, respectively.
First, there are five pig samples (Fig. 2, Group 1) with very low δ 13 C (-21.1±1.1‰) and δ 15 N (+5.4 ±0.2‰) values that are similar to values from contemporaneous pigs in France and other temperate C 3 -dominated areas of Europe (B. Kennedy 1988) and, therefore, probably represent the remains of preserved salt meats brought along as provisions for the journey. A second group of eight pig samples (Fig. 2, Group 2) have very high δ 13 C (-10.4±0.7‰) and δ 15 N (+11.2 ±0.8‰) values that are inconsistent with a European origin, but fit well with a meat-heavy diet focused on the C 4 -oriented terrestrial fauna local to FSL. In fact, this finding is what we had anticipated based on the historical record, which indicates that at least eight pigs from the breeding stock at FSL had been loaded aboard LB just prior to her final departure (Joutel 1998:112,136). It is also important to note that, because the sample population for Group 2 (with an MNI of at least three) includes both older and younger individuals, and produced a narrow range of δ 15 N values (+11.2‰ to +11.4‰), it is unlikely that these dietary signatures reflect a nursing signal.
Having identified pigs that were likely part of the FSL-raised swine population described in the historical accounts of La Salle's expedition (Joutel 1998:112), aspects of the colonists' animal-husbandry practices-particularly the claim that these animals were sustained primarily on meat--especially that of bison--can now be explored (Joutel 1998:122,128,129,140,149). Bison from our baseline dataset consistently produced the highest δ 13 C values of any of the species from LB and FSL, and, consequently, a diet focusing primarily on bison meat would be expected to be distinguished by similarly high δ 13 C values and δ 15 N values that are approximately one trophic position (i.e., 3‰-4‰) higher than bison. Indeed, as Table 1 and Figure 2 show, the second group of pigs has average δ 13 C and δ 15 N values that are within 1‰ of the value anticipated for a diet primarily composed of bison.
Serial analyses along the length of an adult pig's firstincisor tooth (Fig. 3) (Table 3) provide further insight into the content and level of dietary variation involved in the colonists' pig husbandry. Pig first incisors generally begin formation at the crown around 4 to 5 months after birth, long after pigs would have been weaned at FSL (between 4 and 6 weeks of age [Joutel 1998:143, 149]), are completed at the root around the 13th-14th month (Tonge and McCance 1973;Frémondeau, Cucchi et al. 2012). Our diachronic stable-isotope series from this tooth should, therefore, record approximately nine months of dietary intake. Figure 3 shows surprisingly little variation in δ 15 N values (a span of 2‰, range=+ 9.8‰ to +11.8‰) and moderate variation in δ 13 C values (a span of 4‰, range=-12.5‰ to -8.5‰) over this period of time. Aside from sample increments 9-12, where a temporary dietary shift is apparent, no large changes occur between samples over the length of the tooth, indicating that pig-husbandry practices, at least in terms of feeding, were isotopically similar over time. These findings further support the interpretation that bison meat was the staple food for pigs raised by La Salle's colonists, as outlined in the historical record.

Discussion
Our isotopic evidence not only supports the hypothesis that pigs were fed bison meat from a young age, but that this husbandry practice was probably sustained over a considerable period. These isotopic data allow us to explore more thoroughly the question of why La Salle's colonists chose to maintain a substantial pig-husbandry operation despite an apparent dietary focus on other resources that were locally abundant (Talon and Talon 1987:226-228,232-233;Joutel 1998:60-61,76-77,79-81,99,107,114-115,123-125;Meissner 2003;Bruseth, Durst et al. 2004;deFrance 2017).
As La Salle was away searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River much of the time, most of the daily operations at the temporary settlement of FSL were overseen by Henri Joutel, La Salle's trusted companion (Foster 1998:23;Meyrieux 2016). Fortunately, Joutel also compiled a detailed journal of the expedition and took a keen interest in documenting many of the colonists' subsistence activities (Foster 1998:4,24-25).
There would have been compelling reasons for Joutel and the other colonists to focus initial efforts on pig husbandry during the process of establishing a base of operations at FSL. It is obvious that this would be particularly prudent from Joutel's perspective after he and the colonists experienced a brief food shortage early on (Joutel 1998:114). Even when it became clear to the colonists that bison meat could be obtained in large quantities (Joutel 1998:114-117,123,130,139) and would be able to satisfy their nutritional needs fully, Joutel's concern for keeping the colonists active (Joutel 1998:139-141) during long periods of waiting for news from La Salle would also explain the importance of continued pig husbandry, which provided idle colonists with tasks to perform, such as tending, feeding, and guarding the swine.
Food security and Joutel's interest in keeping colonists exercised, however, do not seem to provide a complete justification for large-scale pig husbandry when the associated costs, both in time and risk, as well as other counterproductive factors, are considered. For one, the voracious appetites of growing pigs and the fact there were so many of them (at least 75 after less than two years) (Le Clercq 1881:275; Talon and Talon 1987:233;Joutel 1998:122,140,151) indicate that substantial resources were likely allocated to raising pigs. The evidence provided by our isotopic analyses of pig remains from LB are key to confirming Joutel's explanation for how the colonists managed to husband such a large population of pigs-they were fed a copious amount of meat, especially that of bison (Joutel 1998:122,128,129,140,149). In light of this, it follows that a second counterpoint would be the substantial risks assumed in local bison-hunting activities, many of which ended in loss of human life or injury as a result of poor navigation (Joutel 1998:119), and attacks from the local peoples (Joutel 1998:118,121,141-142,147-148) or the bison themselves (Talon and Talon 1987:228;Joutel 1998:117-118). A third point would be the destructive nature of pigs, which, it seems, were not fenced in because of the lack of timber and, therefore, were free to ruin gardens (Joutel 1998:147), run amok (Joutel 1998:140,143), and even attack and maim colonists (Joutel 1998:145). In fact, substantial effort was expended over time just in collecting enough wood (also a dangerous activity) to construct a small fence around the colonists' garden to prevent pigs from ruining their crops (Joutel 1998:147). A final point would be the excessive number of pigs that had been raised, outnumbering the settlers three to one after just two years. Not only was this bloated swine population probably far greater than would have been needed to sustain a self-regenerating breeding stock or maintain food security for a dwindling population, it was likely larger than would have been feasible to relocate to La Salle's next intended settlement (FSL was only ever intended as a temporary base). Significantly, although the French colony perished, the feralized descendants of these French-introduced pigs continued to thrive and are still a destructive nuisance in south Texas today.
Given the setbacks, risks, and costs associated with raising pigs based primarily on hunted animal meat, it is further interesting that Joutel, seemingly always keen to describe colonists' dietary activities (Meyrieux 2016), rarely mentioned the slaughter and consumption of pigs. In fact, the emergency slaughter of eight pigs aboard La Belle accounts for the majority of such documented instances, which, despite being rare, are recounted in great detail (Joutel 1998:60,111-112,149). In the context of zooarchaeological data from FSL, which show a marked dearth of pig bone (<0.2% of the vertebrate NISP for French contexts) (Meissner 2003;Bruseth, Durst et al. 2004), it would appear that Joutel's silence on pig eating reflects the reality of the situation. Alternatively, it is possible that, since pigs were plentiful and the colonists were probably accustomed to eating pork, Joutel may have neglected to record the evidence of pig consumption. This seems less parsimonious, however, given the detail and attention that Joutel devotes to settlers' foodways in general and to instances where pigs were killed, e.g., Joutel (1998:135-136,149); lost, e.g., Joutel (1998:140); or not killed e.g., Joutel (1998:145), specifically.
Whereas pig husbandry appears to have made less sense economically, it may have held important cultural significance. Though much sacrifice and effort were devoted to the resource-/labor-intensive and unnecessary endeavor of proliferating and then maintaining a large swine population, from the colonists' perspective pig husbandry likely provided important symbolic and social benefits that balanced these costs. In an environment lacking most of the material culture that colonists had left behind in France, pigs may have provided an important cultural link with tradition and custom. The extreme labor costs associated with gathering building materials (e.g., 30 men died of exertion in the first month's collection of lumber) (Joutel 1998:105) and the loss of much of their cargo as a result of the wrecks of both La Belle and their other main cargo vessel, L'Aimible (Joutel 1998:55,98,122,135), meant that most of the raw materials and infrastructure required to rebuild a familiar cultural environment were absent. In this context, despite the effort that husbandry required, pigs could have provided colonists with a measurable means of maintaining their connection, symbolic 2 as it was, with their French origins.
While the social and symbolic importance of changing diet/cuisine and associated practices has received increasing recognition in historical archaeology, e.g., Allard (2015), Milne and Crabtree (2001), and Schweitzer (2014), the symbolic role of animal husbandry in fostering group identity has received less consideration, with the bulk of discussion focusing on its relation to economic and subsistence processes, particularly in early colonial settings; for a review, see Landon (2009). Nevertheless, there are clear examples in which animal husbandry was held up as a crucial symbol of European identity in early colonial settings throughout the Americas. For instance, in colonial New England animal husbandry was regarded by British colonists as a key means for imposing European ideals on Native American groups (Silverman 2003). And, in the central Andes, Spanish colonists established a thriving livestock economy based on sheep because of their symbolic importance to the Spanish homeland, despite the presence of an indigenous livestock economy based on New World camelids (deFrance 2012). The symbolic importance of animal husbandry in early colonial contexts is also strongly implied by the frequency with which the earliest colonial enterprises focused on transplanting traditional livestock-rearing systems into a wide range of New World settings, e.g., deFrance (1996( ), Hodgetts (2006, J. Kennedy (2015), Pavao-Zuckerman and Reitz (2006), and Reitz (1992). The strength of this association, however, appears to dissipate with settlement age, as people begin to experiment with and accept new food ideas (Reitz and Waselkov 2015). In this context, the strong devotion to pig husbandry by colonists at FSL during the first years of settlement fits well with broader observations of an initial adherence to traditional subsistence practices.

Summary and Conclusion
Stable-isotope analyses can provide an important means of exploring past animal-husbandry practices and movements. In this article we have used stable carbon-and nitrogen-isotope data to assess key claims about how animals were raised at the first French colony on the Gulf Coast during one of the earliest European attempts at settlement. Data from pigs excavated from LB support historical accounts suggesting that La Salle's colonists raised at least some of these animals largely on bison meat. The costs associated with this practice, as well as other contextual factors, suggest that relatively large-scale pig husbandry was driven primarily by its cultural significance, rather than economic or subsistence necessities alone.
Stable-isotope-based reconstructions of animal husbandry are relatively new in historical archaeology and have not previously been used to assess the social roles of animals in the process of cultural adaptation, although see Guiry, Szpak et al. (2017). In this context, our study demonstrates some of the potential information that stable-isotope analyses can unlock in historical faunal collections. In particular, our results emphasize how, in contexts where faunal remains may be directly attributed to particular documented events, stable-isotope analyses can provide a powerful tool for reconstructing past events linked with individual life histories. In turn, information from animal diets can be useful for testing hypotheses and evaluating specific, detailed historical claims not only about human economic and subsistence activities, but also about broader cultural questions.