Title
Paleodiet in the Paracas Necropolis of Wari Kayan: Carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of keratin samples from the south coast of Peru
Date Issued
01 March 2015
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Publisher(s)
Academic Press
Abstract
Despite being one of the most famous archaeological cemeteries in Peru, many questions remain about the people who were buried at the Paracas Necropolis of Wari Kayan, which was first excavated by Julio C. Tello in 1925. Here, we use bioarchaeology and biogeochemistry to elucidate the lives of individuals buried at Wari Kayan. More specifically, we present 90 new δ13Ckeratin and δ15Nkeratin values from 14 individuals buried at Wari Kayan and two artifacts made of human hair (mean δ13Ckeratin (VPDB)=-15.3±0.9‰ (1σ, n=90) and mean δ15Nkeratin (AIR)=+15.5±1.2‰ (1σ, n=90)). We interpret these light stable isotope data from archaeological human hair samples from the Paracas Necropolis of Wari Kayan as evidence for a mixed diet of C4 and C3 foods as dietary carbon sources and marine products as dietary nitrogen sources. Sequential hair samples from the same individuals do not exhibit large isotopic differences in hair that formed at different times before death. In addition to elucidating paleodiet at this important site, we interpret sequential isotopic hair data as evidence of a population whose diet was predominately coastal in the last weeks or months of life, either remaining on the coast or consuming coastal products in the highlands. These data elucidate paleodiet as well as the utility of applying newer isotopic methods to archaeological human remains from older museum collections to gain a better understanding of the past.
Start page
231
End page
243
Volume
55
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Arqueología
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84922466098
Source
Journal of Archaeological Science
ISSN of the container
03054403
Sponsor(s)
We would like to gratefully acknowledge funding from the National Science Foundation ( BCS-0852151 . At the Museo Nacional de Antropología, Arqueología e Historia del Perú, we thank the director, Teresa Carrasco, former directors Christian Mesía and Carlos del Águila, Sonia Quiróz and Luis López (Registrars), Patricia Maita (Human Remains) and Carmen Thays (Textiles) as well as other enthusiastic and supportive staff. At the Museo Regional de Ica, our research was welcomed and supervised by director Susana Arce and her staff. At the Peabody Museum of Ethnology and Archaeology, we thank the director, Jeffrey Quilter, as well as Genevieve Fischer (Registrar) and Steven LeBlanc, Michele Morgan and Olivia Herschensohn (Biological Anthropology and Osteology). At the Archaeological Chemistry Laboratory, we are thankful to laboratory technicians Elise Alonzi, Jason Crosby, Sara Marsteller, Annie Laurie Norris, and Emily Sharp. At the W.M. Keck Foundation Laboratory for Environmental Biogeochemistry, we are very grateful for the collaboration and assistance of Everett Shock and Natalya Zolotova.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus