Dietary Evidence for the Timing and Diversity of Mesoamerican Turkey Husbandry

Summary

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

In the absence of morphological changes, clear genetic markers, and pen structures, the archaeological evidence for turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) husbandry and domestication in Mesoamerica relies primarily on identifying dietary shifts in ancient turkeys. As in the American Southwest, captive Mesoamerican turkeys exhibit greater consumption of maize than their wild counterparts. Although this general pattern has been identified, emerging isotopic work has also documented diversity in past turkey diets, which may indicate complex and varied husbandry practices across space and through time. Current isotopic datasets are also skewed towards later time periods (Classic-Postclassic) and lack adequate coverage of the Preclassic period, which is critical to understanding the origins of Mesoamerican turkey domestication. The stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopic dataset presented here provides expanded geographic and temporal coverage of Mesoamerican turkey husbandry and domestication and informs our understanding of past human-turkey interactions in this region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38419.0