Elic Weitzel

For any graduate students in anthropology/archaeology, the Smithsonian is accepting applications for a 10-week in-residence fellowship to use the Museum of Natural History collections to study a topic related to Indigenous cultures. $15k award. Apps due Aug 1!

fellowships.si.edu/opportunity/...

How Economics Nearly Drove New England’s White-Tailed Deer to Extinction - UConn Today “Once you start commodifying animals and commodifying nature, problems happen”

What can centuries-old deer bones teach us about conservation? 🦌 @elicweitzel.bsky.social analyzes these bones to study unsustainable practices of the past. His work could help us avoid making the same mistakes in the future.

today.uconn.edu/2025/06/how-...

How Economics Nearly Drove New England’s White-Tailed Deer to Extinction - UConn Today “Once you start commodifying animals and commodifying nature, problems happen”

My new paper on early evidence for colonial-era white-tailed deer declines was just featured in UConn Today!

“Once you start commodifying animals and commodifying nature, problems happen.”

today.uconn.edu/2025/06/how-...

Thanks Dr. J! Hope you're well!

Thanks! Yes, there was - here's a plot from Camille Kessler's 2024 paper in Mol. Bio. & Evo. Top is genetic data, bottom is estimated historical pop & restocking data. Purple is white-tails. Seems the bottleneck still impacts their genome, but they have recovered well considering how severe it was

The rise and fall – and rise again – of white-tailed deer A new archaeological study finds early evidence of white-tailed deer declines in the 17th century, likely driven by the commodification of deerskins under colonial capitalism.

Check out my new article in @us.theconversation.com about white-tailed deer historical ecology! It's a broad overview of the entirety of human-deer interactions in the eastern U.S., but also features some of my latest work on the topic.

theconversation.com/the-rise-and...

Profs & Pints Northern Virginia: Deer to Us Profs and Pints Northern Virginia presents: “Deer to Us,” on more than 12,000 years of interactions between eastern North America’s white-tailed deer and human residents, with Elic Weitzel, postdocto...

Giving a talk on deer historical ecology in Sterling, VA next month at Crooked Run Fermentation Brewery! Come grab a drink and hang out! Tickets available below:

www.ticketleap.events/tickets/prof...

The lesson here is that if we want sustainability, don't worry about demography as much as commodification. Turning nature into commodities that certain folks can profit from helps divorce consumption from real need. Especially when consumption is for social signaling of status, like with deerskins.

The reason deer were overhunted seems to have been commodification within a new capitalist economy. Fashionable deerskin clothes may have inspired greater deer consumption in the 17th century, depleting deer populations even though there were fewer consumers around (images from Spiers 1973)

This suggests that population policy today seeking to reduce human numbers for environmentalist reasons may not work. All else being equal, fewer people means more sustainability - but all else is not equal. Contrary to common arguments, there's more to the story than just consumer demography...

Importantly, this shows that sustainability isn't always related to human population size. Human pops were low in the 17th c. as epidemics and colonial violence reduced Native pops, and Europeans hadn't arrived in force yet. Deer were overhunted at a time when there were fewer people than before.

This is based on higher juvenile mortality in the 17th century than previously. Hunters generally don't take smaller juveniles unless they can't get larger adults, so this indicates hunting pressure depleted adults. The data for this come partly from aging mandibles, like this one from a fawn.

Pleased to share my new paper on the Commodification of White-Tailed Deer in 17th century Southern New England! In it, I find evidence for increased hunting pressure on deer from the late 17th c., suggesting their population declined soon after Europeans arrived

authors.elsevier.com/a/1l60c-JVc4...

The lesson here is that if we want sustainability, don't worry about demography as much as commodification. Turning nature into commodities that certain folks can profit from helps divorce consumption from real need. Especially when consumption is for social signaling of status, like with deerskins.

The reason deer were overhunted seems to have been commodification within a new capitalist economy. Fashionable deerskin clothes may have inspired greater deer consumption in the 17th century, depleting deer populations even though there were fewer consumers around (images from Spiers 1973)

This suggests that population policy today seeking to reduce human numbers for environmentalist reasons may not work. All else being equal, fewer people usually means more sustainable resource use - but all else is not equal. There's more to the story than just consumer demography...

Importantly, this shows that sustainability isn't directly related to human population size. Human pops were low in the 17th c. as epidemics and colonial violence reduced Native pops, and Europeans hadn't arrived in force yet. Deer were overhunted at a time when there were fewer people than before.

This is based on higher juvenile mortality in the 17th century than previously. Hunters generally don't take smaller juveniles unless they can't get larger adults, so this indicates hunting pressure depleted adults. The data for this come partly from aging mandibles, like this one from a fawn.

Job announcement 🚨: paid fieldwork opportunity with Sanguatsiniq research project! Details in thread ⬇️ Please share!

Had a great time at #SAA2025 talking about the evidence (or lack thereof) for overhunting white-tailed deer

I've long been confused by the digital/analog statements, Jon. Are you referring to our particular interpretation of a democratic system? Surely people participating in decision-making about their own lives (i.e., democracy) is still possible in our contemporary world?

Likewise!!

Read the @51st.news instead of @washingtonpost.com. Independent worker-controlled news beats the hell out of undemocratic pro-billionaire propaganda...

Just about one week left until the deadline! Undergrads - get those applications in!

Not this time, unfortunately - this is a hands-on interactive thing with museum guests. But I'm sure I'll be giving many more talks on deer historical ecology in the future!

The History of White-Tailed Deer Hunting With the large numbers of deer that wander through our backyards and in front of our cars, you would never know that the species nearly went extinct a century ago. Come learn from historical ecologist...

If you're in DC on Thursday, February 20th, stop by the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - I'll be on the floor of the museum talking about the historical ecology of white-tailed deer!

naturalhistory.si.edu/events/histo...

Most fascinating ancient sites in the U.S.—according to an archaeologist The U.S. is full of archaeological sites, "but in most cases you could be standing right on top of one and never know it," Elic Weitzel told Newsweek.

A reporter from Newsweek interviewed me about what I personally consider to be some of the most interesting archaeological sites to visit in the US. Check it out!

Which sites did I miss?

www.newsweek.com/best-archaeo...

If anyone is looking for fieldwork funding, the Scientific Exploration Society could help. I received their Sir Charles Blois Explorer Award last year, and it's going to help fund my fieldwork this summer. The first round of applications are due in a week!

ses-explore.org/about-our-ex...

love it!

I think so, at least relatively, but I'm new here myself. Should be great, yes!