Stable isotopes and paleodiet of the ancient inhabitants of Nueva Esperanza: A late Holocene site from Sabana de Bogotá (Colombia)

Abstract

Stable isotope-based dietary reconstructions of late Holocene agriculturalists from Sabana de Bogotá (Colombia) are limited to the late Muisca period. Accordingly, the dietary patterns and feeding behaviors of people living during the Herrera and Early Muisca periods remain largely unknown. This study aims to present new stable isotope data to discuss the dietary patterns of agriculturalists inhabiting Nueva Esperanza (Sabana de Bogota) during the last 2300 years B.P. In addition, we present the radiocarbon chronology of the site to assess dietary change during the site occupation phases. Data for δ13Ccol and δ15Ncol were obtained from bone/dentine collagen and dental calculus from humans (n = 71) and faunal (n = 20) skeletal remains. The local isotopic ecology was investigated, and the human data were assessed by age, sex, and time period. Humans presented mostly mixed diets with a predominance of maize, supplemented by C3 resources (plants and animals), although some individuals exhibited distinct trends across the C3–C4 range. According to isotopic ecology and other lines of archaeological evidence, maize and C3 resources (plants and animals) mostly contributed to the human diets, whereas C4-feeding animals were less important resources. Bone/dentine collagen and calculus isotope data revealed only minor differences among age groups, sexes, and periods suggesting relatively homogeneous diets at the NE society throughout the late Holocene. Likewise, both kinds of isotopic data display distinct dietary trends suggesting the effect of postmortem processes in the isotopic composition of dental calculus. The isotopic evidence for the NE site suggests similar diachronic trajectories of dietary specializations at the regional level and minor differences regarding maize incorporation into the diet and its standardized use and consumption. These results suggest at the regional level similar patterns of dietary change at the Sabana de Bogotá during the late Holocene.