Stable Isotope Analysis of Charred and Desiccated Plant Remains from the North Coast of Peru

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Challenges and Future Directions in Plant Stable Isotope Analysis in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

One of the key findings of early work that utilized isotopic analysis of macrobotanical remains was that charred remains seemed to produce reliable isotopic measurements, while uncharred (desiccated) remains did not. This early research contrasted charred remains from the highlands of Peru with uncharred remains from the coast. In this study, we reexamined the notion of the reliability of desiccated remains by measuring the carbon and nitrogen isotope compositions of both charred and desiccated macrobotanical remains from two sites on the north coast of Peru. The results demonstrate no systematic differences in the isotopic compositions recorded in the charred and desiccated remains, calling into question the assumption that only charred remains will produce reliable isotopic measurements. Furthermore, the isotopic compositions themselves suggest the use of fertilizers (seabird guano or camelid dung).

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Challenges and Future Directions in Plant Stable Isotope Analysis in Archaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24791