Using Stable Isotope and Dental Analysis to Discuss Precontact Period Diet and Migration in the Greater Nicoya Region of Nicaragua

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Ethnohistoric accounts from conquistadors in Pacific Nicaragua detail both the prevalence of maize as a part of the general diet of Native peoples, as well as the stories of migration from the Mesoamerican Chorotega- and Nicarao-speaking peoples into the region. Archaeologists have since used these accounts to frame excavations and interpretations of various archaeological sites. The Chorotega are presumed to have migrated around 800 CE and the Nicarao around 1350 CE, beyond the original peopling of the region. Due to issues with dating sequences during the later archaeological periods, the focus of the present analysis is on the first assumed external migration of the Chorotegan speakers into Pacific Nicaragua around 800 CE. Archaeological data do not currently support the consumption of maize or the mass migration of peoples into Pacific Nicaragua from Mesoamerica during the assumed period. This poster focuses on the results of stable carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen analyses from the dentition of multiple individuals and the osteological analysis of dentition to discuss evidence of maize consumption, and potential indicators of migration.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53902