Ancient Beringian paleodiets revealed through multiproxy stable isotope analyses.
Carrin M HalffmanBen A PotterHolly J McKinneyTakumi TsutayaBruce P FinneyBrian M KempEric J BartelinkMatthew J WoollerMichael BuckleyCasey T ClarkJessica J JohnsonBrittany L BinghamFrançois B LanoëRobert A SattlerJoshua D ReutherPublished in: Science advances (2020)
The earliest Native Americans have often been portrayed as either megafaunal specialists or generalist foragers, but this debate cannot be resolved by studying the faunal record alone. Stable isotope analysis directly reveals the foods consumed by individuals. We present multi-tissue isotope analyses of two Ancient Beringian infants from the Upward Sun River site (USR), Alaska (~11,500 years ago). Models of fetal bone turnover combined with seasonally-sensitive taxa show that the carbon and nitrogen isotope composition of USR infant bone collagen reflects maternal diets over the summer. Using comparative faunal isotope data, we demonstrate that although terrestrial sources dominated maternal diets, salmon was also important, supported by carbon isotope analysis of essential amino acids and bone bioapatite. Tooth enamel samples indicate increased salmon use between spring and summer. Our results do not support either strictly megafaunal specialists or generalized foragers but indicate that Ancient Beringian diets were complex and seasonally structured.
Keyphrases
- bone mineral density
- weight loss
- gas chromatography
- postmenopausal women
- soft tissue
- bone loss
- bone regeneration
- heat stress
- birth weight
- amino acid
- body composition
- pregnancy outcomes
- electronic health record
- drinking water
- single cell
- big data
- tandem mass spectrometry
- deep learning
- artificial intelligence
- liquid chromatography
- solid phase extraction