Estimating ancient Huron-Wendat diet in southern Ontario using stable isotopes from dogs

Are Dogs Suitable Proxies for Humans in Archaeological Isotopic Dietary Assessments? Bayesian Analyses of Bone Collagen Stable Isotope Ratios from Ancestral Iroquoian Sites

“…The CSA literature indicates dog collagen δ 15 N ratios are typically 2-3‰ lower than human ratios, although the differences between the two species vary widely ( [2], pp. 354-356); Glencross and colleagues ( [9], p. 12) indicate a mean difference of < 2.0‰ in δ 15 N ratios between Iroquoian dogs and humans. Nonparametric Mann-Whitney tests of dog and human δ 15 N ratios by century have signi cant differences in sample medians and the nonparametric Epps-Singleton test indicates the sample distributions are signi cantly different (Table 1).…”

“…Most CSA studies make direct comparisons between dog and human δ 13 C and δ 15 N ratios. Glencross and associates [9] recently performed the rst such analysis for ancestral Iroquoian contexts in southern Ontario. They conclude that despite small differences in isotopic ratios between dogs and humans, that dog tissue δ 13 C and δ 15 N ratios are reasonable proxies for ancestral fourteenth through seventeenth century human ratios.…”

“…They conclude that d 13 C ratios are good proxies for human ratios. While dog d 15 N ratios are <2‰ lower than humans, they "generally support the premise that dogs can serve as dietary proxies for humans, any approximations would likely underestimate the actual human values" ( [9], p. 12). However, these results do not directly address the issue of whether dog and human diets were similar enough that stable isotope ratios of dog bone are suitable proxies for humans.…”

“…Recently, Glencross and colleagues [9] used new d 13 C and d 15 N ratios on large series of dog bone collagen from Iroquoian village sites in southern Ontario to test the applicability of CSA for reconstruction of fourteenth-seventeenth century AD diets by comparing them to previously published ratios on human bone collagen from the same village site or associated ossuary. They conclude that d 13 C ratios are good proxies for human ratios.…”

“…However, these results do not directly address the issue of whether dog and human diets were similar enough that stable isotope ratios of dog bone are suitable proxies for humans. While the values are similar, dogs are not people and have different consumption patterns (e.g., caecotrophy), the possibilities of which Glencross and colleagues ( [9], pp. 7,12) mention.…”