Tracking the Origins of Animal Management in a Neotropical Foraging-to-Farming Population using Carbon Stable Isotope Analysis of Lysine

Summary

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

The middle-late Holocene in southern Belize saw shifts in subsistence strategies, including the introduction of managed plants and animals. Botanical and stable isotope data have been used to track the introduction of agricultural products into human diets, with maize first consumed before 7,000 cal. BP. However, the timing of the introduction of managed animals is less understood because early faunal assemblages are rare. Carbon isotope (d13C) analysis of amino acids (CSIA-AA) is a powerful tool that allows researchers to track the biochemical origins of these compounds in consumer tissues. CSIA-AA analysis of directly dated human skeletons from two rockshelters spanning the transition to agriculture shows a trend of increasing d13C-lysine values indicating a C4-lysine origin in individuals by the Classic Maya period. Additionally, individuals that date to the middle Holocene demonstrate higher-than-expected incorporation of C4-derived lysine. Based on the low abundance of lysine in maize (C4-plant) and daily lysine requirements in humans, these results are only possible through trophic concentration of C4-derived lysine, possibly obtained by consuming maize-eating animals. We propose that human d13C-lysine values can be used to track the incorporation of managed, but not necessarily domesticated, animals into neotropical diets during the transition to agriculture.

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): 40254.0