Human and camelid paleodiets in El Bolsón valley (NW Argentina): A stable isotopes approach

NEVEU COLLADO, CAMILA; KILLIAN GALVAN, V. A.; M. MONDINI; KORSTANJE, M. A.

International Journal of Osteoarchaeology

Willey

Año: 2023

This exploratory study aims at reconstructing human paleodiets and that of camelids –their staple animal resource– in El Bolsón, an Andean valley in Catamarca Province, NWArgentina, as a way of exploring variations in the strategies and patterns of foodprocurement, production, preparation, and consumption by local agricultural-pastoralistsocieties over the last 1500 years. We present the first systematically obtained data oncarbon (13C/12C) and nitrogen (15N/14N) isotopic relationships as measured on camelidand human bone collagen. They come from five camelid individuals from Los Viscosarchaeological site, dating to the last 1200 years, and from six human individuals fromarchaeological rescues and isolated finds bracketed between at least ca. 1300 cal CE andca. 500 cal CE, as no other human samples are available in the study area. The resultssuggest that camelids consumed predominantly locally available C3 pastures, while thehuman paleodiet was primarily based on C4 plants, with camelid protein not being centralto it. Here we discuss how local productive strategies would have played a part in the selective diet of the human inhabitants and interpret this picture in the context of the largerarea comprising the Andean valleys of NW Argentina.