Stable Isotope Analysis of the San Pedro and Cienega Phases at the La Playa Site (SON: F: 10: 3), Sonora, Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Previous stable isotopic studies of bone from 12 dated individuals from the site of La Playa in Northern Sonora suggest a diet dominated by C4 and CAM resources. For collagen δ13C, an average value of -8.5‰ (n=5) was recorded in the San Pedro phase (1200 BC to 800 BC) which shifted to an average value of -10.0‰ (n=7) in the Cienega phase (800 BC to AD 150). However, carbon from bone apatite shows no change over time. There is an unexpected decrease from San Pedro to the Cienega phase in δ13C collagen values suggesting changes in C4/CAM protein intake. In contrast, other data (e.g. maize ubiquity values) suggest a dramatic increase in corn consumption between these two phases. One possible explanation is a shift in protein sources, with greater reliance of distant marine resources during the Cienega phase. However, while the high nitrogen (δ15N) values are consistent with the use of marine resources (11.3‰ to 13.2‰, N=12), there are no differences between the phases in δ15N. We provide new stable isotope analysis on 17 additional humans, as well as selected fauna from La Playa, to explore explanations for directional shifts in diet as well as the elevated δ15N signatures.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25938