More carnivorous than vegetarian: Isotopic perspectives on human diets in Late Holocene northwestern Patagonia

Abstract

This paper reevaluates the significance of plants and animals in Late Holocene human diets of northwestern Patagonia. The area was occupied by hunter-gatherers who, despite the presence of nearby agricultural populations, did not abandon their emphasis on the exploitation of wild resources. Combining new and previously published stable isotope data from human bone collagen (13C, 15N; n = 53) and bone carbonate (13C; n = 21) we use Bayesian mixing models to estimate human trophic levels, the relative proportion of various plant and animal resources in prehistoric diets, and how geographic variation in those values relates to environmental structure. The results of that analysis demonstrate a high reliance on meat rather than plants. Our results call attention to an apparently heavy reliance on small game prehistorically, which differs from all previous analyses. Maize, in contrast, was non significant. This research highlights the significance of exploring spatially meaningful units of analysis and the need to incorporate a set of ecologically diverse baseline isotope data in order to understand trends and variation in human resource use.