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Full-Text Articles in Anthropology
Identification Of Ancient Maya Agriculture In The Periphery Of Motul De San José, Alexandra E. Smofsky
Identification Of Ancient Maya Agriculture In The Periphery Of Motul De San José, Alexandra E. Smofsky
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Agricultural systems were investigated in the Motul de San José periphery, an ancient Maya polity in Guatemala, using soil geochemical techniques. The δ13C values of soil organic matter delineated areas of ancient maize agriculture at the satellite center of Kante’t’u’ul. A new method to locate areas of former cacao cultivation or processing was developed using HPLC to detect theobromine, an alkaloid of the cacao plant, preserved in soils. Extraction of spiked soils revealed that theobromine adsorption is inversely correlated with organic matter content of soils. Detection of naturally occurring theobromine was successful, demonstrating its utility as a tracer. …
Reconstructing Subsistence Practices Of Southwestern Ontario Late Woodland Peoples (A.D. 900-1600) Using Stable Isotopic Analyses Of Faunal Material, Zoe H. Morris
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Stable carbon–, nitrogen–, and oxygen–isotope analyses of animal bones and teeth from 28 archaeological sites are used to reconstruct human subsistence behaviour, i.e., increased maize horticulturalism, during the Late Woodland period (A.D. 1000–1650) in southwestern Ontario. The isotopic data provided dietary, seasonal, and geographic information, which was analysed within archaeological, symbolic, and ecological contexts and used to reconstruct the diets, hunting patterns, and animal processing practices of two neighbouring groups, the Ontario Iroquoian and Western Basin peoples.
Paleodietary and seasonality analyses focused on the following species: canids (domestic dogs, foxes, and wolves), wild turkeys and white-tailed deer, though additional fauna …