Using Stable Isotope Analysis to Demonstrate Humans' Role in Faunal Diet Construction at the Collier Lodge Site (12PR36)

Summary

Previous research on the faunal assemblage recovered from the Collier Lodge site (12PR36) centered on the presence and absence of taxa to reconstruct a possible diet breadth for inhabitants of this historic Indiana site. However, the focus of this year’s research is the inferences drawn from stable isotope analysis of said assemblage; specifically, the ratio of 12C to 13C and 15N to 14N. The former provides insights into the source of carbon obtained through diet, while the latter gives clues to an organism trophic level based on the transfer of nitrogen. This kind of analysis is used to create a food web for the fauna, both domestic and wild, that inhabited 12PR36. The δ13C and δ15N, where δ represents the ratio of the previously mentioned isotopes compared to a standard, will be used to determine the role of humans in the diets of the fauna analyzed. Ultimately, it will be shown to what effect were animals relying on human scraps and agriculture for dietary purposes.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

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