Infancy and Breastfeeding at Cerro Jazmín: Isotopic Data from a Late-Terminal Formative Population in the Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca

Summary

We present isotopic results from 25 adults and children from Cerro Jazmín. Bone collagen (n= 17) and bone and enamel apatite (n=21) isotopic data provide C, N, and O values describing diet and breastfeeding patterns. Carbon values suggest a narrow diet heavily based on maize and little animal protein. Individuals between 0-3 years of age had significantly higher nitrogen and oxygen values than adults, suggesting that these infants may have still been breastfeeding at the time of death. Weaning likely occurred between 3-6 years of age when C3 foods, perhaps squash, were introduced in the weaning diet. By 6 years of age isotopic values matched those of adults. Alternatively, since the subadults in the sample are those who did not survive into adulthood, their elevated nitrogen and more negative carbon values may be attributed to severe stress prior to death. Therefore, we also consider the proportion of adults versus subadults recovered from different periods of occupation at Cerro Jazmín as well as pathological and traumatic lesions to discuss broader patterns of infant health and mortality.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 18783