Understanding the Diet of Late to Terminal Classic Period Maya Groups in the Sibun River Valley, Belize, through Food Web Reconstruction

Summary

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

A stable isotope based dietary study, coupled with previously collected zooarchaeological and botanical data, expands our understanding of ancient Maya dietary variation in the Late and Terminal Classic periods in the Sibun River Valley of central Belize. A food web was created based on the analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in plants and animals native to the study area (including white-tailed deer, brocket deer, turkey, parrotfish, and peccary). Comparison of this web to isotopic data derived from bone collagen and carbonate samples of human skeletal material representing ~50 individuals from three different Sibun sites is incorporated within a probabilistic model for the types of foods eaten and their relative proportion within the diet. The data shows variation in δ13C and δ15N values between the sites, suggesting differences in diet related to differences in geography and perhaps social status.

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): 26149