Using Traditional and Nontraditional Isotopic Tracers of Diet and Mobility of Brazilian Shell Mound Populations (ca. 8000–1000 years BP)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The study of shell mounds can shed light on human occupation and adaptations at coastal environments worldwide. In South America, human groups occupied the territory close to the Atlantic Ocean for millennium (ca. 8000 to ⁓1000 years BP), building hundreds of shell mounds, some with impressive dimensions. After 2000 BP, it is assumed that these populations progressively disappeared when environmental changes occurred and new pottery-using populations arrived from the inland. We aim here to investigate the mobility of the shell mounds’ populations before and after the arrival of ceramic traditions, reconstructing their diets in order to test the aforementioned hypothesis. To do so, we conducted a combination of traditional (bulk collagen δ13C and δ15N, amino acid δ13C and δ15N, 87Sr/86Sr of hydroxyapatite) and nontraditional (δ66Zn and δ88Sr of hydroxyapatite) isotope measurements as well as trace elements concentrations on fauna and humans from eight archaeological sites from across southeastern Brazil. Results of nontraditional isotopes measurements elucidate and improve our understanding of food webs, environment, and diet of ancient populations. This unprecedented combination of isotopic analysis provides us with new insights about how shell mound populations in Brazil adapted to coastal environments, and the identification of local and nonlocal individuals.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37115.0