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 study of the number and kinds of game encountered at Cerro Brujo, Panama, Linares (1976) proposed 

 that the biomass of a small, select group of terrestrial mammals appeared to have been greater when 

 they occurred in the vicinity of gardens and consumed garden crops than the biomass of these same 

 species in areas that had not been disturbed by human practicing of shifting cultivation. The evidence 

 suggests, according to Linares, that the collared peccary (Tayassu tajacu), agouti (Dasyprocta 

 punctata), paca {Agouti paca), and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) were hunted by 

 prehistoric Cerro Brujo people in numbers disproportionately high to the biomass of these animals in 

 natural conditions. To explain this, Linares made two deductions: first, the game species at Cerro 

 Brujo fed on cultivated crops, and second, the abundance of gardens and game animals vis a vis each 

 other was positively correlated. The occurrence of higher densities of game around gardens and the 

 fact that these species consumed garden crops eventually resulted in a shift in hunting practices by the 

 Cerro Brujo people. According to Linares (1976), the Cerro Brujo people shifted from tropical forest 

 hunting (commonly practiced by tribal peoples throughout the Neotropics and characterized by a 

 specific belief system, particular technology, and male-oriented trekking activities) to a new pattern 

 called "garden hunting." It now appears that other indigenous peoples developed garden hunting as 

 well as this practice has also been reported, for example, for the Bora Indians of Peru (Denevan et al., 

 1984). 



According to Linares (1976), two types of game commonly were taken during garden hunting: 

 one, smaller animals (e.g., paca and agouti) that lived in the underbrush or in burrows and two, larger 

 animals (e.g., collared peccary and white-tailed deer) that were tolerant of humans or human activities 

 and lived~or could live-in forest-edge conditions. Areas such as cultivated fields and house gardens 

 were especially good areas in which these two kinds of game were taken. Shifting cultivation, Linares 

 (1976) concluded, affects the biomass of terrestrial mammals that are behaviorally preadapted to being 

 tolerant of human disturbances. 



Whereas Linares (1976) described some of the ecological and behavioral characteristics of the 

 game species taken by Cerro Brujo hunters in the vicinity of gardens, no direct physical evidence was 



