Subsistence Change during the Transition to Agriculture in Southern Belize: What Amino Acid Specific Stable Isotope Analyses Can Tell Us

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Advances in Interdisciplinary Isotopic Research" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The impact of the agricultural transition in the Maya region is little understood. Excavations at two rockshelters in southern Belize, Mayahak Cab Pek and Saki Tzul, have uncovered intact deposits dating from Cal.12,000 to 1,100 BP with a continuous record of both human and fauna remains. Using carbon and nitrogen bulk tissue and carbon amino acid specific stable isotope analyses, we are able to identify periods of human subsistence change in both the carbohydrate and protein portions of the diet as well as shifts in animal foraging over the agricultural transition. These changes are inherently important for understanding the gradual adoption of maize, the decrease of the animal contribution to the diet over time, and the ecological changes in Southern Belize that occurred as humans transitioned from being hunters and gatherers to intensive agriculturalists.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Advances in Interdisciplinary Isotopic Research   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23505