Diet and Carbon Isotopes

Abstract

Stable carbon isotope analysis was introduced to archaeologists in the late 1970s and provided the first chemical signature for the introduction of maize agriculture into the diet of prehistoric Native Americans from the eastern United States. Since that time, carbon isotopes have been used to discriminate between C3, C4, and CAM‐based diets, as well as marine versus terrestrial diets. Archaeologists routinely analyze carbon isotopes of bone collagen (which are biased toward the sources of dietary protein) and the carbonate in bone and tooth bioapatite (which reflect all dietary macronutrients) to reconstruct human paleodiet in a variety of contexts. Carbon isotope models have been successful in identifying the protein and non‐protein sources of the diet, providing more fine‐grained interpretations of food consumption patterns in the past. Applications mainly focus on temporal and regional dietary patterns, as well as variation linked with sex, age, status, and mortuary patterns.