Isotopic Diet and Migration at Chicoloapan Viejo, Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Central Mexico after Teotihuacan: Everyday Life and the (Re)Making of Epiclassic Communities" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Chicoloapan grew and prospered after the decline of Teotihuacan, but little is known about the Epiclassic population that lived there and elsewhere in the Basin of Mexico. An isotopic and osteological analysis of six individuals recovered from salvage and archaeological contexts provides a glimpse into the lives of Chicoloapan residents. Strontium and oxygen isotope values in tooth enamel reveal no immigration but provide the local values for the site and expand human baseline values for Basin of Mexico populations. Analysis of carbon and nitrogen isotope values in bone collagen and apatite show a diet heavy in C4 resources. Significant tooth wear suggests some nondietary use of plants. Sulphur isotope values also provide dietary and locational information for individuals using catchments with volcanic lithologies in Mesoamerica. These data reconstruct the lives of Chicoloapan residents from birth to burial and provide a point of departure for future analysis of lifeways in the Basin of Mexico after Teotihuacan.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Central Mexico after Teotihuacan: Everyday Life and the (Re)Making of Epiclassic Communities

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32577