Variability on Stable Isotopes (13C, 15N) of Camelids Bone Collagen: Implication to Holocene Human Paleoecology

NEME, G.A.; QUIROGA, G. ; GIL, A.; DAUVERNÉ, A. ; OTAOLA, C.; ABBONA C.C.; PERALTA, E.

Universidad Andrés Bello, Viña del Mar, Chile

Congreso; 11th International Conference on the Applications of Stable Isotope Techniques to Ecological Studies; 2018

Camelids, mostly guanacos (Lama guanicoe) are the more prominent big sized herbivorous in South America and one of the most significant resource in human diet during the pre industrial period. From an archaeological perspective, human diet reconstruction using stable isotopes on bone collagen are based mostly using average values of camelids stable isotopes. The present paper confirms the high variation in camelid bone collagen stable isotopes (C and N). Holocene North Patagonia camelids bone collagen data shows variation between -20? to -14? in ẟ13C and between 3? and 12? in ẟ15N (n= 75). Ecological difference between Monte and Patagonia deserts explain part of these variation. This mean that the macro regional average value on camelids 13C and 15N, including different eco-regions, could generate an inaccurate human isotopic diet reconstruction. A smaller spatial scale taking into account phitogeographic units is preferable in this kind of studies