Human Paleodiet on Tutuila Island, American Samoa: Isotopic Evidence of Dietary Continuity Through the Medieval Warm Period-Little Ice Age Transition

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Paleodietary research in West Polynesia has traditionally focused on evidence from zooarchaeological assemblages, land use patterns, and stone tool technology. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of human remains offers a new window into paleodiets in the region, which can be used to examine temporal and regional variation in food consumption patterns. Isotopic analysis can also inform on sex and age variation in diet, which may shed light on differential access to resources and other aspects of human behavior. After the initial colonization of West Polynesia, archaeological evidence suggests a temporal shift toward a complex horticultural economy, marked by the increased use of plant foods relative to marine resources through time. Stable isotope analysis can be used to determine the relative importance of marine versus terrestrial foods in human paleodiets, and therefore provides a complementary line of evidence for addressing temporal variation in food consumption patterns. The focus of this study is an analysis of paleodiet among 32 burials from Tutuila Island, American Samoa. These burials date between 1564-83 cal BP, including one burial dating to the Ancestral Polynesian Society period, 15 burials dating to the Dark Ages, 15 burials dating to the Monument Building period, and one burial dating to the early 1900s. We hypothesize that stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values will reflect a decline in marine resource consumption through time, in conjunction with an increased reliance of C3 plants and terrestrial vertebrates, especially through the Medieval Warm Period-Little Ice Age Transition when marine environments were negatively impacted. This would support the argument that C3 plants and animal domesticates became more important to the diet over time on Tutuila. Contrary to expectation, the results show evidence for dietary continuity through time on the island, suggesting resilience in the use of marine resources across this transition.