%0 Journal Article
%T New Data on Food Consumption in Pre-Hispanic Populations from Northwest Argentina (ca. 1000每1550ˋA.D.): The Contribution of Carbon and Nitrogen Isotopic Composition of Human Bones
%A Mar赤a Soledad Gheggi
%A Ver車nica Isabel Williams
%J Journal of Anthropology
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/258190
%X We present data on carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of human bones from Tolomb車n (Calchaqui Valley, Salta) and Esquina de Huajra (Quebrada de Humahuaca, Jujuy) sites located in Northwest Argentina (NWA). Both are complex archaeological residential settlements ascribed to the Regional Development Period (ca. 900每1430ˋA.D.), the Inca Period (ca. 1430每1536ˋA.D.), and the Early Colonial Period (ca. 1536每1600ˋA.D.). Twelve samples of human bones were collected and analyzed, including remains from individuals of both sexes and different ages at death. We also present the carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of modern plants from nearby areas in order to start building an isotopic ecology of the area and compile available information on food consumption from different lines of evidence. The isotopic results obtained reveal the consumption of C4 plants, which for the area are maize and amaranth, combined with animal proteins. The integration of these results with the broader database was useful to discuss the political and economical implications of the findings, especially in the context of this area under the Inca domination. 1. Introduction The analyses of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes were introduced to archaeology in the middle 1970s and have been used worldwide to assess human and animal diets of archaeological populations [1每5]. Their main potential is that they allow direct access to the average diet of an individual＊s life time before death which for bone samples is expected to reflect the last 7 to 10 years; while for hair samples, the value is expected to reflect a shorter time span [6, pages 137-138], complementing or broadening the interpretations made from traditional archaeological data, such as plant macro- and microremains, faunal remains, artifacts for food processing, or the osteological analysis of nutritional pathologiesˋˋ[7]. In the Andean area, the analyses of carbon and nitrogen isotopes have been used to assess the political implications of food consumption and distribution [8每10], the mobility and subsistence models of pre-Hispanic societies [11每13] or, the study of gendered food consumption in domestic contexts [14]. Following this line, we intend to approach the food consumption profiles of individuals from the archaeological sites of Tolomb車n (Calchaqui Valley, Salta) and Esquina de Huajra (Quebrada de Humahuaca, Jujuy) located in NWA (Figure 1). The occupation of these sites encompasses a time span characterized by rapid social changes including a period of hostile conflict between communities and the annexation
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/janthro/2013/258190/