Using stable isotope analyses to assess the geographical origins of pork and beef products in a historical New World population center

Summary

This presentation explores the utility of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses as a method for tracing the geographical origins of meat products from major livestock species. Samples (n= 250) from pigs and cattle consumed in the historical city of York, later renamed Toronto, in Canada are compared with animals raised in other areas, in both local as well as distant regions. Results show how cultural as well as environmental isotopic variables can be used to distinguish between animals raised in the city, the local region, or imported from the US. In particular, differences between the prevailing agricultural regimes in Southern Ontario versus the eastern US appear to provide a robust isotopic contrast in regional livestock and may be a useful marker of animals raised in and/or moved between different political and economic regions during the nineteenth century. We also use these data to reconstruct consumption patterns between different social and economic groups within the urban settings of Toronto and discuss these findings in the context of human translocation of animals and reshaping of ecosystems.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Biological Exchange in the Anthropocene: Archaeological and Genetic Perspectives

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