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Multi-isotopic Evidence for Prehispanic Maya Use of Multiple Subsistence Catchments at Caledonia, Cayo District, Belize

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Exploring Human Behavior Through Isotope Analysis

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Abstract

Prehispanic Maya communities were experts at utilizing, managing, and consuming plant and animal resources from diverse landscapes. Maya sites located at the intersection of multiple ecozones were likely intentionally situated to access both economically valuable and subsistence resources from multiple local catchments. This study adopts a multi-isotopic (sulfur, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen) approach to reconstruct Maya subsistence practices and catchment use at the site of Caledonia from the Late Preclassic to the Terminal Classic periods (200–1000 CE). Two isotopically nonlocal individuals and a nursing juvenile were identified before the diets of local adults were assessed. The data show that the Caledonia Maya consumed various plant and animal resources, both domesticated and wild, from isotopically distinct catchments surrounding their site. All individuals consumed maize-based diets, but some were more reliant on maize grown on the Vaca Plateau, others relied on other plants and animals from the Macal River or Mountain Pine Ridge, while still others consumed mixed diets. The consumption of Vaca Plateau maize may also have been lower in the Preclassic period and dietary regimes among governing lineages at the site may have shifted with changing sociopolitical alliances throughout the Classic period. Nonlocal individuals also appear to have consumed local diets and their inclusion in sequentially used family sepulchers speaks to their integration into the Caledonia community. This case study illustrates how a multi-isotopic approach can provide new insights into past subsistence practices, including the use of multiple species and catchments by different community members, the integration of nonlocal people into receiving communities, and that dietary behaviors were influenced by broader sociocultural contexts in archaeological societies.

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Acknowledgements

This research builds upon a co-authored paper presented by the author at the 2020 meeting of the Canadian Association for Biological Anthropology and was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The author would like to thank Jaime Awe, Paul Healy, and Trent University’s Department of Anthropology for providing permission to analyze the Caledonia samples. Thanks are also owed to Carolyn Freiwald and Vaughan Grimes for their comments on an earlier draft, Anthony Faiia, Martin Knyf, and Paul Middlestead for their assistance with the isotopic analyses, and Barry Best for his assistance with FTIR analysis.

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  1. Department of Archaeology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, Canada

    Asta J. Rand

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  1. Department of Anthropology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Melanie M. Beasley

  2. Department of World Languages and Cultures, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA

    Andrew D. Somerville

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Rand, A.J. (2023). Multi-isotopic Evidence for Prehispanic Maya Use of Multiple Subsistence Catchments at Caledonia, Cayo District, Belize. In: Beasley, M.M., Somerville, A.D. (eds) Exploring Human Behavior Through Isotope Analysis. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32268-6_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32268-6_5

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-32268-6

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