Exploring dietary patterns in the southernmost limit of pre-Hispanic agriculture in America by using Bayesian stable isotope mixing models.

BERNAL, VALERIA; GONZALEZ, PAULA; GORDÓN, FLORENCIA; PEREZ, IVAN

CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY

University of Chicago Press

Año: 2016 vol. 57 p. 230 - 239

0011-3204

The contribution of maize to the diet of pre-Hispanic populations that inhabitedMendoza province, the southernmost limit of agriculture in America, has been largely debated. Recently, on the basis of δC13 data it was suggested that cacti may mimic the pattern of human isotopic values attributed to maize consumption in this region. These studies relied on a univariate qualitative approach not suitable for accurately identifying dietary contribution when multiple potential resources are available. Here, we analyzed δC13 and δN15 published data by using Bayesian mixing models to estimate the proportional contributions of different plants and animals to the protein component and total diet. The effect of different discrimination values on these estimations was also assessed. Our results pointed out the importance of C3 vegetables in the pre-Hispanic diet of these populations and only a small contribution of maize and cacti in the later Late Holocene sample from North Mendoza. Discrimination values had a significant effect on diet estimation. Overall, our study highlights the importance of obtaining discrimination values for local resources and increasing the diversity of isotopes analyzed for both the consumer and the potential resources to get a better understanding of diet variation in this region.