Isotopic evidence on human bone for declining maize consumption during the little ice age in central western Argentina

ADOLFO GIL; RICARDO VILLALBA; ANDREW UGAN; VALERIA CORTEGOSO; GUSTAVO NEME; CATALINA T MICHIELI; PAULA NOVELLINO; VICTOR DURÁN

JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE

ACADEMIC PRESS LTD-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Año: 2014 vol. 49 p. 213 - 227

0305-4403

This paper explores variation in maize consumption among human societies in arid environments of central-western Argentina over the last 2500 years. Increasingly positive human d13C signatures suggest a high intake of C4 resources (maize) until ca. A.D. 1400. After this time, the importance of maize in the diet drops and never reaches pre-Hispanic consumption rates, despite the known importance of maize to Inka and other late-prehistoric societies in the region. This decline appears to be related to colder temperatures during the Little Ice Age from the beginning of the 15th to the mid19th centuries.