Human Mobility and Dietary Patterns in Precolonial Puerto Rico

Author(s):  
Jason E. Laffoon

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.

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-39
Author(s):  
Reema Tayyem ◽  
Shatha Hammad ◽  
Sabika S. Allehdan ◽  
Dana Abdelrahim ◽  
Lydia Djellouli ◽  
...  

Evaluating dietary patterns could provide an overall view of food and nutrient which consumed regularly. Better understanding of dietary patterns in pregnant women may be considered an acceptable mean to identify unhealthy dietary practices and the associations with undesirable pregnancy outcomes, which necessitates urgent intervention. This study aimed to determine the dietary pattern followed by Jordanian women during pregnancy in the second and third trimesters and to detect possible association between the dietary patterns and educational level. A total of 286 healthy, pregnant Jordanian women, aged ≥ 18 years with singleton pregnancies, completed the study. Sociodemographic, dietary, and physical activity data were collected using validated questionnaires. Dietary patterns were identified using a Principal Component Analysis. A multinomial logistic regression was used to estimate the effect of education level on dietary intake. Three dietary patterns were identified during the entire duration of pregnancy; ‘High-Fat, High-Sugar’, ‘Fruit and Vegetables', and ‘High Protein’ which explained about 32% of the variability of the study sample. Dietary patterns adopted by pregnant women during the second and third trimesters, separately, were able to explain about 40% of the variability during each trimester. Educational level showed associations with dietary patterns, in which ‘Fruit and Vegetables' and ‘Healthy’ patterns were remarkably manifested as the preferred pattern of consumption for the highly educated women during their third trimester. Different dietary patterns have been identified among Jordanian pregnant women throughout their pregnancy trimesters. Higher educational level could influence food choices. Fruit and Vegetables' and ‘Healthy’ patterns were the followed patterns among the highly educated women during their third trimester.


Author(s):  
Linda Reynard

Stable isotope ratios of bone collagen have been used to determine trophic levels in diverse archaeological populations. The longest established and arguably most successful isotope system has been nitrogen, followed by carbon, and more recently hydrogen. These trophic level proxies rely on a predictable change in isotope ratio with each trophic level step; however, this requirement may not always be met, which can lead to difficulties in interpreting archaeological evidence. In agricultural communities, in particular, there are several possible complications to the interpretation of nitrogen and carbon isotopes. Recent approaches to overcome these limitations include better quantification and understanding of the influences on consumer isotope ratios; inclusion of evidence from plant remains; further investigation of apatite δ13C—collagen δ13C spacing in bones; measurement of carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in individual amino acids, rather than collagen; and development of other stable isotope proxies for trophic level, such as hydrogen isotopes.


2009 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 244-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly J. Knudson ◽  
Sloan R. Williams ◽  
Rebecca Osborn ◽  
Kathleen Forgey ◽  
Patrick Ryan Williams

1995 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Anne Katzenberg ◽  
Henry P. Schwarcz ◽  
Martin Knyf ◽  
F. Jerome Melbye

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.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Vervoort ◽  
Chris Fisher ◽  
Ross Salerno

<p>One of the fundamental tenets of geochemistry is that the Earth’s crust has been extracted from the mantle creating a crustal reservoir enriched—and a mantle depleted—in incompatible elements. The Hf-Nd isotope record has long been used to help understand the timing of this process. Increasingly, however, it has become apparent that these two isotope records do not agree for Earth’s oldest rocks. Hf isotopes of zircon from juvenile, nominally mantle-derived rocks throughout the Eoarchean have broadly chondritic initial isotope compositions and indicate large-scale development of the depleted mantle reservoir started no earlier than ~ 3.8 Ga. In contrast, the long-lived Sm-Nd isotope record shows large variation in Nd isotope compositions. Most notably, Paleo- and Eoarchean terranes with chondritic initial Hf isotope compositions have significantly radiogenic Nd isotope compositions indicative of the development of a widespread depleted mantle reservoir very early in Earth’s history which, by extension, requires extraction of significant volumes of enriched crust. These two isotope systems, therefore, indicate two fundamentally different scenarios for the early Earth and has been called the Hf-Nd paradox. However, an important unresolved question remains: Do these records represent primary isotopic signatures or have they been altered by subsequent thermomagmatic processes? We have been able to provide clarity in the Hf isotope record by analyzing zircon from Eo- and Paleoarchean magmatic rocks by determining its U-Pb crystallization age and linking this to its corresponding Hf isotope composition. We can do this unambiguously—even in complex polymetamorphic gneisses—with the laser ablation split stream (LASS) technique whereby we determine U-Pb age and Hf isotope composition simultaneously in a single zircon volume. The existing Nd isotope data, in contrast, are all from bulk-rock analyses. These analyses are potentially problematic in old, polymetamorphic rocks because of the inability to link the measured isotopic composition to a specific age. In addition, the REE budget in these rocks is hosted by accessory phases that can be easily mobilized during later metamorphic and magmatic events. We can now use the LASS approach in REE rich phases (e.g., monazite, titanite, allanite, apatite) to determine U-Pb age and Nd isotope composition in a single analytical volume. New Nd isotope data from the Acasta Gneiss Complex (Fisher et al., EPSL, 2020) show that REE-rich accessory phases are not in isotopic equilibrium with their bulk rock compositions and clearly demonstrate mobilization after initial magmatic crystallization. This post-magmatic open-system behavior may well explain the disagreement in the Hf-Nd isotope record in high-grade polymetamorphic terranes like Acasta. In less complicated, lower-grade rocks, such as in the Pilbara terrane, these REE-rich phases yield consistent U-Pb and Sm-Nd age and isotope compositions indicating that the Nd isotope system in these rocks has remained closed since formation. Of particular note, in the Pilbara samples, the Hf and Nd isotope systems have consistent, broadly chondritic, initial Hf and Nd isotope compositions. In these less-complicated samples, where the Sm-Nd isotope system has remained closed, the Hf and Nd isotope systems agree and there is no Hf-Nd paradox.</p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jocelyn S. Williams ◽  
Shannen M. Stronge ◽  
Gyles Iannone ◽  
Fred J. Longstaffe

We present the results of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of bone collagen and bone bioapatite from the ancient Maya center of Minanha, Belize (ca. 100 B.C. to A.D. 1260). The purpose of this research was to reconstruct diet and investigate the influence of sociopolitical and environmental factors. Overall, diet was relatively stable over time, with maize being a staple in all periods. Maize consumption reached its peak in the transitional Early to Middle Classic periods and decreased over time. When isotope data from dry periods were compared to normal periods, there were no significant differences, although comparisons of isotope data by burial location and type suggest that the apical or ruling elite consumed a more diverse diet, with more animal protein, relative to the lesser elites. The temporal variability in maize consumption seems best explained by sociopolitical factors documented at Minanha and within the Vaca Plateau. This study demonstrates the resilience of ancient subsistence practices in the face of climatic instability and highlights the impact that social and political factors can have on diet and subsistence economy.


Data in Brief ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 107290
Author(s):  
Sara Bernardini ◽  
Seminew Asrat Mogesie ◽  
Ileana Micarelli ◽  
Giorgio Manzi ◽  
Mary Anne Tafuri

2014 ◽  
Vol 114 (9) ◽  
pp. A91
Author(s):  
R. Torres ◽  
S. Rivas ◽  
L. Orrac ◽  
A. Elias ◽  
C. Palacios

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1955) ◽  
pp. 20211204
Author(s):  
Sean W. Hixon ◽  
Kristina G. Douglass ◽  
Brooke E. Crowley ◽  
Lucien Marie Aimé Rakotozafy ◽  
Geoffrey Clark ◽  
...  

Recently expanded estimates for when humans arrived on Madagascar (up to approximately 10 000 years ago) highlight questions about the causes of the island's relatively late megafaunal extinctions (approximately 2000–500 years ago). Introduced domesticated animals could have contributed to extinctions, but the arrival times and past diets of exotic animals are poorly known. To conduct the first explicit test of the potential for competition between introduced livestock and extinct endemic megafauna in southern and western Madagascar, we generated new radiocarbon and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data from the bone collagen of introduced ungulates (zebu cattle, ovicaprids and bushpigs, n = 66) and endemic megafauna (pygmy hippopotamuses, giant tortoises and elephant birds, n = 68), and combined these data with existing data from endemic megafauna ( n = 282, including giant lemurs). Radiocarbon dates confirm that introduced and endemic herbivores briefly overlapped chronologically in this region between 1000 and 800 calibrated years before present (cal BP). Moreover, stable isotope data suggest that goats, tortoises and hippos had broadly similar diets or exploited similar habitats. These data support the potential for both direct and indirect forms of competition between introduced and endemic herbivores. We argue that competition with introduced herbivores, mediated by opportunistic hunting by humans and exacerbated by environmental change, contributed to the late extinction of endemic megafauna on Madagascar.


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