Intra-Community Variation in Diet during the Adoption of a New Staple Crop in the Eastern Woodlands

This study investigated intracommunity variation in diet during the introduction and adoption of a new staple crop (maize) into an indigenous horticultural system. Carbon and nitrogen isotopes of human bone collagen were analyzed from five sites in west-central Illinois, dating from the Middle Woodland to Mississippian periods, and the results contrasted with evidence from neighboring river valleys and the wider Eastern Woodlands area. Contrary to speculation, neither the initial adoption of maize nor subsequent intensification in its use were correlated with status, gender, or age. A striking bimodal distribution was observed in consumption of native and introduced crops; growing or eating small amounts of maize was apparently not practiced. Fluoride dating confirms the burials are contemporary, and the pattern persists over several hundred years. Possible explanations include issues related to the economics of maize growing, household requirements for storage, exchange, or levies, or individual taste. Also notable were earlier-than-expected dates for intensive exploitation of the maize in this area, in the early Late Woodland, possibly as early as A.D. 400. Nitrogen isotope ratios were higher for males at all sites and time periods; the cause may have been greater access to dietary protein, or could be the result of physiological differences.

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Stable Isotope Evidence for Maize Horticulture and Paleodiet in Southern Ontario, Canada

American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/282144 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 60 (2) ◽

pp. 335-350 ◽

Cited By ~ 95

Author(s):

M. Anne Katzenberg ◽

Henry P. Schwarcz ◽

Martin Knyf ◽

F. Jerome Melbye

Keyword(s):

Stable Isotope ◽

North America ◽

Material Culture ◽

Nitrogen Isotopes ◽

Nitrogen Isotope ◽

Extraction Methods ◽

Animal Protein ◽

Bone Collagen ◽

Southern Ontario ◽

Isotope Data

This paper reports new data on stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes obtained from human skeletal remains found at six prehistoric sites dating between A.D. 400 and 1500 in southern Ontario. Analyses examine more closely the timing and intensity of maize adoption and the importance of animal protein in the diet, adding to earlier work in the region by the same authors (Schwarcz et al. 1985). As a result of changes in preferred methods of extracting bone collagen, a comparison of extraction methods is presented. Results indicate a gradual increase in the importance of maize in the diet over a period of approximately 600 years, from A.D. 650 to 1250, and little change in nitrogen isotope values during the same period. The results are considered within the larger temporal and geographical framework of eastern North America, drawing on stable isotope results from the published literature. Both paleobotanical and isotope data indicate marked differences in the timing and intensity of maize utilization in different regions of northeastern North America. Nitrogen isotope values decrease after around A.D. 1350, suggesting a decrease in animal protein in the diet. Stable isotope data provide one source of evidence for changes in human subsistence patterns and their interpretation relies on complementary data from sources such as the analysis of faunal and botanical remains, settlement patterns, and material culture.

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Middle Woodland Culture History in the Great Lakes Riverine Area

American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/2693986 ◽

1965 ◽

Vol 31 (2Part1) ◽

pp. 211-223 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Stuart Struever

Keyword(s):

Great Lakes ◽

Small Scale ◽

Middle Woodland ◽

Cultural Systems ◽

Culture History ◽

Major River ◽

Definition Of ◽

Central Illinois ◽

River Valleys ◽

Homogeneous Culture

AbstractThere are multiple structural and stylistic differences between local Middle Woodland expressions in the Great Lakes-Riverine area. These reflect not only different cultural systems but also in some cases different levels of cultural complexity. At present these manifestations are grouped into a single Hopewellian culture on the basis of selected artifact commonalities. Variations within Great Lakes-Riverine Middle Woodland are of several kinds: (1) complexes that include diagnostic Hopewellian culture artifacts are concentrated in the major river valleys, while apparently contemporary manifestations in neighboring localities lack Hopewellian forms; (2) if we employ artifact classes other than those used as Hopewellian diagnostics, Middle Woodland regional traditions can be defined that have distributions sharply different from those of specifically Hopewellian complexes; (3) comparison of Hopewellian manifestations in Ohio, Illinois, and elsewhere indicates that these are not local expressions of a homogeneous culture but probably representatives of more than one cultural system; and (4) structural analysis of Middle Woodland mortuary and subsistence-settlement patterns in two regions, Illinois and Ohio, indicates contrasting cultural systems. It is argued that if ceramics of the Havana tradition are classified according to criteria developed in the central Illinois Valley, then potentially significant local style variations will go unrecognized. Tentative definition of four microstyle zones within the Havana tradition illustrates the utility of a system of analysis geared to recognition of small-scale style differences.

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Stable Carbon- and Nitrogen-Isotope Ratios of Bone Collagen Used to Study Coral-Reef and Terrestrial Components of Prehistoric Bahamian Diet

American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/281022 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 53 (2) ◽

pp. 320-336 ◽

Cited By ~ 123

Author(s):

William F. Keegan ◽

Michael J. DeNiro

Keyword(s):

Coral Reef ◽

Nitrogen Isotopes ◽

Nitrogen Isotope ◽

Isotope Ratios ◽

Isotopic Signature ◽

Bone Collagen ◽

Food Groups ◽

Stable Carbon ◽

Carbon And Nitrogen ◽

Consumption Practices

Previous studies have demonstrated that stable carbon- and nitrogen-isotope ratios of bone collagen can be used to distinguish marine and terrestrial components of prehistoric human diet. However, when this method was first applied to prehistoric Bahamians, their bone-collagen nitrogen-isotope ratios were found to be outside the ranges observed for other coastal populations that ate substantial quantities of marine foods. This study examines in detail the distributions of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in Bahamian food chains. Our results indicate that the unique isotopic signature in bone collagen of prehistoric Bahamians reflects the enrichment of 13C and the depletion of 15N in seagrass and coral-reef communities relative to other oceanic environments. The results also demonstrate that bone-collagen 13C/12C ratios can be used to distinguish marine from terrestrial contributions in the prehistoric Lucayan Taino diet, and that 15N/14N ratios serve to identify the use of certain marine food groups. This approach should prove useful for the study of consumption practices in other tropical coral-reef environments and as a method for evaluating theoretically predicted optimal diets.

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Isotopic Evidence for Environmental Adaptation in Medieval Iin Hamina, Northern Finland

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/rdc.2017.52 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 59 (4) ◽

pp. 1117-1131 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Maria Lahtinen

Keyword(s):

Nitrogen Isotopes ◽

Physiological Stress ◽

Nitrogen Isotope ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Environmental Adaptation ◽

Protein Source ◽

Ice Age ◽

Bone Collagen ◽

Tooth Formation ◽

Main Protein

AbstractThis study investigates human environmental adaptation in northern Finland at the cemetery of Iin Hamina. The cemetery was in use in the 15th and 16th centuries AD during the cool climate anomaly called the Little Ice Age. It is possible that these extreme climatic conditions may have impacted human survival in this agriculturally marginal region. In previous studies, carbon and nitrogen isotopes in the bone collagen of humans and fauna have shown that the main protein source for people at Iin Hamina was fish. In this study, I observe annual changes in diet derived from isotopic studies of teeth. Apart from one individual whose protein source shifted radically during tooth formation, the results show the inhabitants of Iin Hamina experienced only minor changes in diet over periods of several years. Moreover, none of the dietary profiles provided evidence of dietary or physiological stress through raised nitrogen isotope ratios. The results indicate that the individuals in this study appear to have been well-adapted to their environment.

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Woodland Social Change in the Central Midwest: A Review and Evaluation of Interpretive Trends

North American Archaeologist ◽

10.2190/dhar-rqj2-cgwj-a1a8 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 141-161 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Joseph A. Tainter

Keyword(s):

Social Change ◽

Late Woodland ◽

Middle Woodland ◽

West Central ◽

Central Illinois

The analysis of Middle Woodland to Late Woodland social change in west-central Illinois has produced contrasting interpretations of decreasing and increasing complexity. This paper evaluates both views, showing that available evidence is most consistent with the interpretation of social collapse at the Middle to Late Woodland transition.

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