Political alliance, residential mobility, and diet at the ancient Maya city of Pusilha, Belize

Abstract

We present strontium, oxygen, and carbon isotope ratios derived from the tooth enamel of 16 individuals from the Classic Maya city of Pusilha, located in southern Belize. Carbon isotope data suggest that local people ate relatively more maize than observed at many other comparable Maya sites, and hint that dietary practices at Pusilha may have been related to sex and status. Furthermore, strontium and oxygen isotope data imply that four individuals were born and spent their early childhood outside of the eastern Maya lowlands. One individual may have come from the northern Maya lowlands, a second from the volcanic highlands of Guatemala, and two more from the Copan region. In three cases, the pattern of foreigners in burials at Pusilha is inconsistent with their being sacrificed captives. Instead, they appear to have been foreign elites who married into the royal family. Political, economic, and ideological ties between the Southern Belize Region and Copan have long been hypothesized but until now there has been only weak and ambiguous evidence for such connections.