The Potential of Bulk δ<sup>13</sup>C on Encrusted Cooking Residues as Independent Evidence for Regional Maize Histories

Hart, John P.; Lovis, William A.; Jeske, Robert J.; Richards, John D.

doi:10.7183/0002-7316.77.2.315

Cited by 21 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…However the correlation between C4 plants (e.g. maize) and δ 13 C and δ 15 N values of charred deposit are not straightforward [78], [79], and our δ 13 C and δ 15 N results are also consistent with those observed in coastal areas of Northern Europe resulting from the processing of aquatic resources [30]. In spite of the complexity underlying food crust isotopic signatures, compound specific isotopic data from the same potsherds reinforces the interpretation that marine foods principally contributed to the isotopic signal of these charred deposits.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-Term Resilience of Late Holocene Coastal Subsistence System in Southeastern South America

et al. 2014

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Isotopic and molecular analysis on human, fauna and pottery remains can provide valuable new insights into the diets and subsistence practices of prehistoric populations. These are crucial to elucidate the resilience of social-ecological systems to cultural and environmental change. Bulk collagen carbon and nitrogen isotopic analysis of 82 human individuals from mid to late Holocene Brazilian archaeological sites (∼6,700 to ∼1,000 cal BP) reveal an adequate protein incorporation and, on the coast, the continuation in subsistence strategies based on the exploitation of aquatic resources despite the introduction of pottery and domesticated plant foods. These results are supported by carbon isotope analysis of single amino acid extracted from bone collagen. Chemical and isotopic analysis also shows that pottery technology was used to process marine foods and therefore assimilated into the existing subsistence strategy. Our multidisciplinary results demonstrate the resilient character of the coastal economy to cultural change during the late Holocene in southern Brazil.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-Term Resilience of Late Holocene Coastal Subsistence System in Southeastern South America

et al. 2014

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“…Depleted 8 I3 C values are often associated with plants growing in forests and wetlands (van der Merwe 1982). Recent analyses in the Finger Lakes region have indicated a strong temporal trend for enriched 8 13 C values through time (Hart et al 2012) and an almost perfect negative correlation between the trend for enriched 8 13 C and the trend for thinner walled vessels through time (Hart 2012). These strongly suggest that the 8 I3 C trends are the result of increased C contribution from maize, not changes in FROs.…”

Section: Stable Isotopesmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…We assumed a 15-year standard deviation for the calculated ages, which is the modal value we have obtained with recent AMS age estimates. Hart et al 2012;Raviele 2010). R 2 was fish because of its frequent implication as the source of dead C in cooking residues.…”

Section: Modeling Age Offsets In Cooking Residuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Freshwater Reservoir Offsets on Radiocarbon-Dated Charred Cooking Residues

Hart¹,

Lovis²,

Urquhart³

et al. 2013

Am. antiq.

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I t is always preferable to obtain radiocarbon assays on objects of chronological interest rather than on spatially associated charcoal. Doing so is more likely to produce an accurate age estimate-one that captures the true age of the object. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating has expanded the range of objects that can be di-rectly assayed because the technique requires only a few milligrams of organic material. It is now standard practice, for example, to directly assay crop macrofossils to obtain accurate age estimates of when crops contributed to subsistence systems.Obtaining accurate direct-age estimates on pottery is critical because this technology plays Obtaining radiocarbon assays on objects of chronological interest is always preferable to obtaining assays on spatially associated charcoal. The development of Accelerator Mass Spectrometer (AMS) dating has expanded the number of objects that can be directly assayed because it requires only a few milligrams of material. Pottery can be directly assayed when charred cooking residues adhering to the interior walls are present. The accuracy of AMS ages derived from residues has been questioned in cases where cooking freshwater aquatic organisms may have introduced carbon from ancient carbon reservoirs into residues. Here we provide analytic protocols for examination of this phenomenon and the results of systematic modeling of age estimates on residues formed from fish and maize with varying percentages of dead carbon. We present a regional case study using a large series of AMS age estimates on residues from the Finger Lakes region of northeastern United States to demonstrate how the paleolimnological record and lipid analysis of residues can help to determine if dates on residues from a given region are likely to have been affected by the presence of ancient carbon. In the case of the Finger Lakes, there is no evidence that ancient carbon affected the age estimates.Obtener análisis por radiocarbono en objetos de interés cronológico es preferible que obtener análisis de carbono asociado con el espacio. El desarrollo de la datación por medio del Acelerador Espectrómetro de Masa (AMS) ha expandido el número de objetos que pueden ser analizados directamente, dado que éste requiere solamente algunos miligramos de material. Cuando están presentes, los residuos del carbono cocinado, adheridos a las capas interiores de la cerámica, permiten el análisis directo de la cerámica. Ésta se ha convertido en una práctica común en todo el mundo. La exactitud de la datación por medio del Acelerador Espectrómetro de Masa derivada de los residuos ha sido cuestionada en casos donde organismos acuáticos de agua dulce, al ser cocinados, pueden haber introducido carbono de viejos depósitos de carbono dentro de los residuos. Aquí proveemos protocolos analíticos para el análisis de este fenómeno y los resultados de modelos sistemáticos de análisis en residuos formados por peces y maíz con varios porcentajes de carbono antiguo. Presentamos un estudio regional que usa una larga s...

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“…The history of maize in the eastern Woodlands has recently taken an interesting turn under the research agenda forwarded by John Hart, William Lovis, and others employing microbotanical evidence to identify maize phytoliths and starch grains, especially in the charred cooking residues on early pottery (Hart and Lovis 2007, 2013:188–191, 2014; Hart et al 2012). Based on microbotanical identification and AMS dates of cooking residues, researchers have pushed the earliest evidence for maize back to as early as 300 BC in New York and Ontario and to 200 BC in Michigan (e.g., Albert et al 2018; Hart and Lovis 2013; Hart et al 2012). However, Chilton (2006:Tables 39-1 and 39-2) found Northeastern macrobotanical evidence of maize usually dates circa AD 1000 or later, and Lusteck (2006:524) reports that in the interior south-central region of the eastern Woodlands, the oldest remains date circa AD 1000, well within the time frame outlined here.…”

Section: Evaluating Maize Macrobotanical Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Isotopic Confirmation of the Timing and Intensity of Maize Consumption in Greater Cahokia

et al. 2020

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The history of maize (Zea mays L.) in the eastern Woodlands remains an important study topic. As currently understood, these histories appear to vary regionally and include scenarios positing an early introduction and an increase in use over hundreds of, if not a thousand, years. In this article, we address the history of maize in the American Bottom region of Illinois and its importance in the development of regional Mississippian societies, specifically in the Cahokian polity located in the central Mississippi River valley. We present new lines of evidence that confirm subsistence-level maize use at Cahokia was introduced rather abruptly at about AD 900 and increased rapidly over the following centuries. Directly dated archaeobotanical maize remains, human and dog skeletal carbon isotope values, and a revised interpretation of the archaeological record support this interpretation. Our results suggest that population increases and the nucleation associated with Cahokia were facilitated by the newly introduced practices of maize cultivation and consumption. Maize should be recognized as having had a key role in providing subsistence security that—combined with social, political, and religious changes—fueled the emergence of Cahokia in AD 1050.

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The Potential of Bulk δ¹³C on Encrusted Cooking Residues as Independent Evidence for Regional Maize Histories

Cited by 21 publications

References 14 publications

Long-Term Resilience of Late Holocene Coastal Subsistence System in Southeastern South America

Long-Term Resilience of Late Holocene Coastal Subsistence System in Southeastern South America

Modeling Freshwater Reservoir Offsets on Radiocarbon-Dated Charred Cooking Residues

Isotopic Confirmation of the Timing and Intensity of Maize Consumption in Greater Cahokia

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The Potential of Bulk δ13C on Encrusted Cooking Residues as Independent Evidence for Regional Maize Histories

Cited by 21 publications

References 14 publications

Long-Term Resilience of Late Holocene Coastal Subsistence System in Southeastern South America

Long-Term Resilience of Late Holocene Coastal Subsistence System in Southeastern South America

Modeling Freshwater Reservoir Offsets on Radiocarbon-Dated Charred Cooking Residues

Isotopic Confirmation of the Timing and Intensity of Maize Consumption in Greater Cahokia

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The Potential of Bulk δ¹³C on Encrusted Cooking Residues as Independent Evidence for Regional Maize Histories