Horticulturists and oxygen ecozones in the tropical and subtropical forests of Southeast South America

Daniel Loponte, Mirian Carbonera, María José Corriale and Alejandro Acosta

Environmental Archaeology, 2017, vol. 22, issue 3, 247-267

Abstract: We analyse the isotopic values (δ13C, δ15N) of the diet of pre-Columbian horticulturalist populations from tropical and subtropical areas of southeastern South America, belonging to the Guarani and Taquara archaeological units. The data indicate different trends in each one (T = 4.21; P = 0.0004), showing a mixed diet with maize consumption in the Guarani samples (δ13Cco = −15.5 ± 1.8‰; δ13Cap −10.4 ± 0.8‰) and a depleted one in the Taquara ones (δ13Cco −18.2 ± 1.7‰; δ13Cap −11.9 ± 0.9‰), with a significant internal dispersion in both populations. The first population has higher nitrogen values (δ15N 11.1 ± 0.6‰) compared to the Taquara samples (δ15N 9.3 ± 1‰), suggesting a more carnivorous diet. The recognition of these pre-Columbian mixed diets involves the identification of maize cultivation on the Atlantic side of the southernmost area of South America (Parana Delta, 34° SL). Through the analysis of δ18O we have identified two isotopic ecozones, the first along the Paraná River Valley, with an average value of δ18O −3.7 ± 0.5‰ (CV = 13.5%; CI = −3.83 / −3.16), and the second one, located in the Planalto of southern Brazil (Araucaria Forest), with a mean value of δ18O −1.5 ± 0.3‰ (CV = 16.5%; CI = −1.69 / −1.29). The isotopic data (δ13C, δ15N and δ18O) suggest human movements between these two ecozones.

Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/14614103.2016.1211382 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:yenvxx:v:22:y:2017:i:3:p:247-267

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/yenv20

DOI: 10.1080/14614103.2016.1211382

Access Statistics for this article

Environmental Archaeology is currently edited by Tim Mighall

More articles in Environmental Archaeology from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().