Characterizing variation in late precontact diets using dental microwear texture analysis: a Caborn-Welborn example

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Caborn-Welborn phase identifies late precontact and early postcontact (ca. AD 1400–1700) peoples of the lower Ohio River valley in Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois who coalesced following the collapse of the Angel chiefdom. Our current understanding of Caborn-Welborn foodways is that they, like their contemporaries in other parts of eastern North America, subsisted largely on maize and wild game, supplemented by a wide range of other wild and cultivated foods. While technically accurate, this generic picture of late precontact diets does not do justice to the many microclimatological and cultural nuances that characterized local native southeastern and midwestern diets. Dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) is a method to understand diet by analyzing the microscopic scratches and pits left on teeth during mastication. Combining DMTA with other lines of evidence, we confirm previous studies that indicate that at least some Caborn-Welborn peoples consumed less maize than their ancestors living at the Angel site. Rather than understanding Caborn-Welborn peoples as practicing a generic late precontact subsistence strategy, our study highlights how Caborn-Welborn peoples chose to eat less maize and consume more hard wild foods such as nuts compared with their contemporaries.