Maize and Meat over Millennia: Meta-analysis of Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Ratios from the Andean Preceramic to the Colonial Period (7000 BCE - 1600 CE)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Within the last 40 years, stable isotope analysis has revolutionized bioarchaeology, particularly in the study of human diets in the past. Thousands of studies have analyzed human and animal bone collagen and apatite, tooth enamel, dentin, and hair, but results have rarely been aggregated and studied at large scale. For this investigation, I will compile data reported in published human dietary studies in the Andes region of South America. Through a systematic review and meta-analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data in published literature, I will assess community diet in the Andes through both space and time (from 7000 BCE to CE 1600). These millennia subsume diverse local, regional, and imperial developments in cultural complexity, from the South American Preceramic to the Inka and Spanish imperial expansions. I will examine specifically how diets have varied or remained stable throughout multiple phases of cultural development, particularly focusing on the ways in which expansive cultures and states impacted quotidian consumption on regional and local scales.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38119.0