Agropastoral and marine subsistence among the Majos of Fuerteventura (Canary Islands, 3rd-13th century CE): a zooarchaeological study in a desert-like oceanic island

North African agropastoral populations colonized the Canary Island between the 1 st to 3 rd centuries CE, adapting a translocated subsistence package to constrained island environments. Within the archipelago, Fuerteventura represents a stress test of that process: arid, low-lying and closest to the Sahara, it is where such constraints were most acute. Here, we examine how the Majos , its Indigenous inhabitants, combined livestock husbandry with the exploitation of wild terrestrial and marine resources, and how those decisions sustained socio-ecological resilience. We report a zooarchaeological analysis of three assemblages spanning the 3 rd to the 13 th centuries cal CE: Punta del Mallorquín, Llano del Sombrero, and Cueva de Villaverde. The faunal assemblages reveal a diverse spectrum of animals, including domestic, synanthropic, wild terrestrial species, as well as marine resources. Goats dominate the herd, with management increasingly oriented toward secondary products through time, while osteometry provides a preliminary body-size assessment of Majo caprines and identifies a distinct robustness pattern, in sheep, suggesting a differentiated livestock component. Wild-fauna include endemic birds bearing consumption marks, among them the extinct Lava Shearwater and the Canarian Quail, whereas synanthropic species display cave taphonomy dynamics. Direct radiocarbon dating indicates the rabbit to be an intrusive, European-introduced specimen, while the cat plausibly coexisted with the Majos . Marine remains, dominated by parrotfish, demonstrate structured coastal exploitation with catch sizes consistently exceeding 30 cm. Rather than an exclusively pastoral economy, these patterns reveal a diversified, risk-buffering subsistence strategy underpinning Majos resilience on an arid oceanic island.