δ13C and δ15N in organic residues of Patagonia pottery. Implications for studies of diet and subsistence strategies among late Holocene hunter-gatherers

Abstract

This paper reports the results of stable isotope studies (δ13C and δ15N) performed on organic residues in archaeological potsherds recovered from diverse Patagonian environments in Argentina. The objective was to identify the types and provenance of food cooked in ceramic vessels, thus contributing to the study of paleodiets and subsistence strategies among hunter-gatherer groups in Patagonia during the late Holocene. The sample included forty-six potsherds recovered from forest (n = 21), steppe (n = 15) and Atlantic coast (n = 10) sites located in different latitudes of the continental Argentine Patagonia. Our data indicates that the type of food processed in the ceramic vessels may have depended on the availability of resources in each environment. Lower-than-expected δ13C-values likely suggest the cooking of animal fat, while δ15N-values are good indicators of the environmental origin of the cooked resources. This is a reconnaissance study that seeks a broad inter-environmental comparison in order to understand the processing and consumption of food after 1000 years BP, when pottery was adopted by Patagonian hunter-gatherer groups.