Changing Foodways in Pre-Columbian Illinois

Summary

Pre-Columbian Native Americans of Illinois have had a long history of plant production from foraging to cultivation via horticulture to domestication via agriculture. Isotopic analysis has been used as a standard for comparing diet from different sites and isotopic ratios are given as parts-per-mil (‰), and reflect the consumption of types of food. Carbon isotopes (δ13C) can indicate the types of plants eaten and nitrogen isotopes (δ15N) indicate the trophic level of protein sources in the diet. The Archaic people of Illinois are viewed as being highly mobile hunter and gatherers, but with the advent of horticulture, their mobility began to decrease as they centered their movements around seasonally-based camps. During the Woodland time period, horticulture was intensified and the people became semi-sedentary with permanent settlements. Mississippian people were considered sedentary with the arrival of agriculture and the formation of towns. Hunting and fishing continued to be a regular activity. Regional variance does exist, but overall, through the history of the Pre-Columbian Native Americans of Illinois, there is a general trend in increased δ13C levels as maize is adopted as a staple diet. Nitrogen levels did not change drastically over time, indicating a consistency in protein intake.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage