The study presented in chapter 9 focuses on inferring patterns of human mobility and diet in ancient Puerto Rico from multiple isotope evidence. Strontium isotope results from a recent long-term, inter-disciplinary research project investigating human paleomobility from a Circum-Caribbean perspective indicate that human migrations occurred at varying scales: intra-island, inter-island, and mainland-island over time. These data are combined with published bone carbon and nitrogen isotope data from various precolonial sites in the Antilles and newly generated enamel carbon isotope data to explore the possible relationships between geographic origins and dietary practices amongst indigenous populations of the Caribbean. The increased interpretative power of such an integrated, multiple isotope approach will be highlighted by focusing on a well-researched burial population from the multiple component, Ceramic Age site of Maisabel, Puerto Rico. The explicit combination of isotope results with archaeological and bioarchaeological evidence permits comparative analysis of local and migrant groups within this population, and a more nuanced exploration of individual geographic origins than would be possible based on a single isotope system alone. In combination, the inferred mobility and dietary patterns have important implications for various archaeological hypotheses, assumptions, and models concerning Caribbean prehistory at multiple spatial and social scales.
First Identification of Sudoite in Caribbean Ceramic-Age Lapidary Craftsmanship
