Diet and foodways across five millennia in the Cusco region of Peru

Abstract

The Central Andes of South America boasts a rich history of complex societies and sophisticated economic networks. Reconstructing patterns of diet across time is important to understanding the relationships between subsistence and food preparation and their roles in mediating consumption and hegemony through time. The region surrounding the city of Cusco in the southern Peruvian highlands is best known as the heartland of the Inca Empire (520-418 BP); however, it has a long history of social complexity and regional exchange, including colonization by the highland Wari Empire (1350-950 BP) and in situ development in earlier periods. Elucidating subsistence and mobility over time in the Cusco region is therefore essential for reconstructing the evolution of complex Andean polities and their effects on local communities.This study presents carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotopic data from human bone and tooth enamel at four Cusco-region sites: the hunter-gatherer site of Kasapata (6350- 4150 BP, N = 8); the village site of Yuthu (2350-2050 BP, N = 22); the Wari colony of Hatun Cotuyoc (1350-950 BP, N = 9) and the contemporaneous village site of Ak'awillay (N = 22). Key aims are to estimate diachronic shifts in foodways and nutrition, and those related to Wari control. Results indicate nearly-identical isotope values at Kasapata and Yuthu trending toward lower-trophic level C3 proteins and C3 energy sources, while values indicate mixed C3/C4 diets at Ak'awillay and diets dominated by terrestrial meat and C4 foods at Hatun Cotuyoc. Interestingly, oxygen isotope values suggest water source variation consistent with minimal mobility at Kasapata and regional mobility at Yuthu, but possibly with overlapping but divergent foodways at Ak'awillay and Hatun Cotuyoc resulting in differential evaporative pressures on consumed water rather than increased mobility.