Maize’s Role in the Diets of Late Prehistoric People Living in the Prairie Peninsula

Summary

Population aggregation and shifts in material culture of the Late Prehistoric Eastern Woodlands (AD900-1100) has often been linked to the increase in the importance of maize in the human diet. In the Midwest, the development of distinct contemporaneous archaeological cultures (e.g., Oneota, Langford and Middle Mississippian) has often been connected to assumed differences in maize consumption. A commonly used model is that increased complexity in social structures result from, and/or are required for, increased production and consumption of maize. However, most comparisons among Late Prehistoric groups in Illinois and Wisconsin have relied on incompatible or incomplete datasets, or were of limited geographic scope. This paper applies the Canine Surrogacy Approach to add isotopic data about dietary profiles from Late Prehistoric sites across northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. Coupled previously published data, a more nuanced pattern of the relationships among maize agriculture, political complexity, economic structures and social institutions emerges.

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): 22363