Paleodiet in Late Preceramic Peru: Preliminary Isotopic Data From Bandurria

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Preceramic occupation of Peru has historically received little attention from scholars. Recent excavations on the North-Central Coast of Peru have identified several large sites with monumental architecture dating to the Late Preceramic Period (3000–1800 BC). Monumental architecture and dense occupation at these sites indicates a degree of sedentism despite the lack of evidence for large-scale agriculture for comestibles and ceramic production. Questions remain, however, with respect to the nature of human dietary regimes without technological innovations that mirror agricultural modes of food production. This preliminary study uses stable isotope ratio analysis of human bones and teeth to assess the dietary regimes at the coastal site of Bandurria. Results support a marine-based diet for individuals sampled. These data are consistent with the maritime hypothesis which suggests that subsistence economy during the formation of Andean civilization relied on small schooling fish as the staple protein and was supplemented by C3 type carbohydrates (i.e., squashes, potatoes) (Moseley 1975, 1985, 1992; Shady Solis 2006a, 2006b). When isotopic data from Bandurria individuals are compared to data from Caral (Coutts et al. 2008), paleodietary inference suggests that marine resources were consumed in lower frequencies at sites further inland than coastal ones. These data may support a proto-horizontality model of social exchange between coastal and lowland areas during the Late Preceramic Period (Rostworowski de Diez Canseco 1975, 1977) reflected in the material markers of dietary resources, and further may suggest that coastal maritime-adapted polities were integrated into social and material exchange networks.