Determining short-term dietary change in the American Southwest : seasonality using isotopic analysis of human hair

• Main Author: Cooper, Catherine Grace
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2013
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/45200

This study examines short-term dietary change in a Basketmaker II population from the American Southwest using stable isotope analysis of human hairs from a midden excavated at the site of Turkey Pen Ruins. Each individual hair was segmented and each section analyzed for δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N on an Elementar-Isoprime EA-IRMS to explore changes in both plant and meat protein intake across a period of months. The data show that there is some variation along the length of individual hairs, and even though the magnitude of the δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N shifts are not the same across all hair strands, there is enough evidence of semi-sinusoidal curvature in all hairs suggesting seasonal variation in the diet. The isotope values of these individuals, when compared to previously-published δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N data from archaeological American Southwest turkey remains, suggests that both Basketmaker II humans from Turkey Pen Ruins and turkeys recovered from nearby sites had a similar, mostly herbivorous, diet. === Arts, Faculty of === Anthropology, Department of === Graduate