Comparing Short-Term Dietary Variability throughout Early Life between Trophy and Non-Trophy Head Individuals from Uraca, Arequipa, Peru

Summary

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

Paleodietary analysis of incrementally forming δ13C and δ15N can show which points during early life growth and development individual diets converged and diverged from other individuals within a burial community. Understanding how those changes correspond with estimated age and sex and other key aspects of social identify or lived experience can shed light on social structure and behaviors. The site of Uraca, Arequipa, Peru, is a cemetery that was used over approximately 500 years, spanning the Early Intermediate period and early Wari periods (ca. 600–1000 CE), a time of intense climatic variability that likely impacted social strategies and intercommunity interactions. We examine short-term dietary change from infancy through young adulthood through stable isotope analysis from dentin microsections of first and third molars in male and female individuals (n=20) with various degrees of violent injuries and violent dismemberment. While sample sizes are too small to assess statistical significance, early life ranges in both carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios are generally narrower for non-trophy and uninjured individuals. This suggests participation in violence led to broader dietary options, whether due to differences in social identity at origin sites, or sampling the diets of diverse geographic areas throughout early life.

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): 37663.0