Variation in camelid δ13C and δ15N values in relation to geography and climate: Holocene patterns and archaeological implications in central western Argentina

Gil, Adolfo; Ugan, Andrew; Otaola, Clara; Neme, Gustavo; Giardina, Miguel; Menéndez, Lumila Paula

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2015.12.002

Cited by 32 publications

(34 citation statements)

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“…The enriched 13 C apat. values from the sites with migrants suggest a high C 4 dietary input that, based on the regional isotopic ecology 21,56 , is compatible with an agricultural subsistence heavily reliant on maize cultivation (Fig. 4d).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Similar values recorded for δ 15 N among migrants and locals would suggest an important protein intake from wild herbivores, such as the guanaco ( Lama guanicoe ). Importantly in this context, comprehensive studies for wild herbivores in Mendoza do not record δ 13 C values that could explain the particularly enriched migrant values 56 . In addition, a study of taxon-dates for macro-botanical remains of cultigens from Mendoza including maize identifies the highest abundance between ca.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Multi-isotopic and morphometric evidence for the migration of farmers leading up to the Inka conquest of the southern Andes

Barberena

Menéndez

Roux

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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We present isotopic and morphometric evidence suggesting the migration of farmers in the southern Andes in the period AD 1270–1420, leading up to the Inka conquest occurring ~ AD 1400. This is based on the interdisciplinary study of human remains from archaeological cemeteries in the Andean Uspallata Valley (Argentina), located in the southern frontier of the Inka Empire. The studied samples span AD 800–1500, encompassing the highly dynamic Late Intermediate Period and culminating with the imperial expansion. Our research combines a macro-regional study of human paleomobility and migration based on a new strontium isoscape across the Andes that allows identifying locals and migrants, a geometric morphometric analysis of cranio-facial morphology suggesting separate ancestral lineages, and a paleodietary reconstruction based on stable isotopes showing that the migrants had diets exceptionally high in C4 plants and largely based on maize agriculture. Significantly, this migration influx occurred during a period of regional demographic increase and would have been part of a widespread period of change in settlement patterns and population movements that preceded the Inka expansion. These processes increased local social diversity and may have been subsequently utilized by the Inka to channel interaction with the local societies.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Multi-isotopic and morphometric evidence for the migration of farmers leading up to the Inka conquest of the southern Andes

Barberena

Menéndez

Roux

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

Self Cite

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“…use of pottery and increased frequency of dental caries in human remains- (Della Negra 2008;Fernández 1988Fernández -1990Gordón and Novellino 2016; Barbosa 1988-1990;Lema et al 2012;Neme 2007). With the aim of establishing the contribution of different resources to the diet of the human populations under study, we built an isotope ecology using 113 values of δ 13 C and δ 15 N taken from published databases (Boeckx et al 2005;Fernández et al 2016;Giardina et al 2014;Gil et al 2006Gil et al , 2009Gil et al , 2011Gil et al , 2016Quiroga et al 2016;Rivas et al 2012) and from this work (Supplementary Tables S1 and S3). This information corresponds to archeological and modern plants and animals from Neuquén and South Mendoza.…”

Section: Database Of Stable Isotopes Of Human Remains and Resourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dietary patterns in human populations from northwest Patagonia during Holocene: an approach using Binford’s frames of reference and Bayesian isotope mixing models

Gordón

Pérez

Hajduk

et al. 2017

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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The goal of this paper is to assess the variation in the proportional contribution of diverse resources to the diet of human populations from northwest Patagonia (Argentina) throughout the Middle-Late Holocene. Particularly, we assessed the variation among three geographic areas and two periods. We first estimated the expected proportions of terrestrial animals and plants and aquatic resources for each area according to the Binford's frames of references approach. A Bayesian mixing method was then applied to calculate the proportion of plants and animals in the diets from stable isotopes (δ 13 C and δ 15 N) of human bone collagen. The isotope values suggest that the composition of diets differed spatially and temporally. Diets of South Mendoza were mainly composed of terrestrial animals (Rhea-Lama and rodents) with a greater incorporation of C 3 plants towards the later Late Holocene; in North Neuquén, Rhea and Lama represent a proportion of 0.84 of the diet consumed; and finally, the sample of Center Neuquén is the only one with high values of Araucaria in the diet. The isotopic values obtained for the three studied areas did not fit to the expectations of Binford's model, North Neuquén being the area that departs most from the predicted proportions of terrestrial animals and plants and aquatic organisms in the diet. These findings open up new questions about the local conditions that influenced regional variation in the diet of prehistoric hunter-gatherers.

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“…Southern Mendoza has been characterized as the agricultural dispersion boundary in South America with human societies to the north developing agricultural methods for subsistence starting two thousand years ago and those to the south practicing hunting and gathering prior to Spanish colonization approximately 500 years ago [ 1 – 4 , 6 , 7 , 73 , 91 ]. This boundary extends from west to east along the Atuel and Diamante rivers at 34° 40’ south latitude near the Patagonia phytogeographic boundary.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Were domestic camelids present on the prehispanic South American agricultural frontier? An ancient DNA study

et al. 2020

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The southern boundary of prehispanic farming in South America occurs in central Mendoza Province, Argentina at approximately 34 degrees south latitude. Archaeological evidence of farming includes the recovery of macrobotanical remains of cultigens and isotopic chemistry of human bone. Since the 1990s, archaeologists have also hypothesized that the llama (Lama glama), a domesticated South American camelid, was also herded near the southern boundary of prehispanic farming. The remains of a wild congeneric camelid, the guanaco (Lama guanicoe), however, are common in archaeological sites throughout Mendoza Province. It is difficult to distinguish bones of the domestic llama from wild guanaco in terms of osteological morphology, and therefore, claims that llama were in geographic areas where guanaco were also present based on osteometric analysis alone remain equivocal. A recent study, for example, claimed that twenty-five percent of the camelid remains from the high elevation Andes site of Laguna del Diamante S4 were identified based on osteometric evidence as domestic llama, but guanaco are also a likely candidate since the two species overlap in size. We test the hypothesis that domesticated camelids occurred in prehispanic, southern Mendoza through analysis of ancient DNA. We generated whole mitochondrial genome datasets from 41 samples from southern Mendoza late Holocene archaeological sites, located between 450 and 3400 meters above sea level (masl). All camelid samples from those sites were identified as guanaco; thus, we have no evidence to support the hypothesis that the domestic llama occurred in prehispanic southern Mendoza.

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Variation in camelid δ13C and δ15N values in relation to geography and climate: Holocene patterns and archaeological implications in central western Argentina

Cited by 32 publications

References 85 publications

Multi-isotopic and morphometric evidence for the migration of farmers leading up to the Inka conquest of the southern Andes

Multi-isotopic and morphometric evidence for the migration of farmers leading up to the Inka conquest of the southern Andes

Dietary patterns in human populations from northwest Patagonia during Holocene: an approach using Binford’s frames of reference and Bayesian isotope mixing models

Were domestic camelids present on the prehispanic South American agricultural frontier? An ancient DNA study

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