Analysis of Kaqchikel Skeletons: Iximché, Guatemala

Results

The 43 samples tested range in d¹³C values from -5.2‰ to +0.1‰, with a mean of -2.1±1.1‰, a large spread for a population representing at most a couple of generations (Table 5). Several individuals (IX-2, IX-4, XP-60, XP-62, XP-63), three of which are Decapitations, stand out as having carbon isotope values substantially different than the average, suggesting substantially different dietary patterns, at least at the age of tooth formation. Some or all of these individuals likely grew up at sites other than Iximché, and at least the three with the most negative carbon isotope ratios (-4.3, -5.0, -5.2) either came from areas with more abundant C3-based food resources, or they were elites from other communities who had differential access to alternative foods because of their ascribed status.

Too few individuals without evidence of decapitation were tested to compare Decapitations and Non-decapitations statistically. The few results available for the latter all fall within the range of variation for Decapitations, but it is not known whether they are representative of the Iximché residential population. There are however some noticeable, if not statistically significant, differences between Females (mean=-1.5; n=6) and Males (mean=-2.1; n=7). The greater homogeneity of the carbon isotope ratios in females (range=1.9) suggests that much of the overall dietary variation seen at Iximché comes from males (range=2.9), who would be more likely than females to come from other ecological settings as war captives and/or to have differential access through higher status to a variety of food resources.

Given the chronology and location of Iximché, the degree of consumption of maize is likely to account for most of the variation in stable carbon isotope ratios in tooth enamel. Without the establishment of baseline isotopic values for the specific fauna and flora likely to have been consumed by the Kaqchikel and their neighbors, it is not possible to estimate precisely the importance of maize in the diet. Using theoretical endpoints of about -14‰ and +2‰ in apatite, respectively, for pure C3 and pure C4 diets, maize, or maize-fed animals, contributed on the order of 75-85% of the whole diet at the time of tooth formation. This interpretation is consistent with that based on the bone collagen analyses (Whittington and Reed, 1994; 1998), which indicate that the protein portion of the diet (both adult and juvenile) was derived primarily from maize, which is actually quite poor in protein content. Based on experimental data produced by Ambrose and Norr (1993), the average carbon isotope value of the foods consumed at Iximché is estimated at -11.6‰. With maize averaging about -9.5‰ (Schwarcz et al., 1985; Wright, 1994), the consumption of C3 plants and wild animals (with d¹³C values of -26‰ to -19‰) could only have been a minor part of the diet of the individuals recovered at Iximché. Diets at or near Iximché were different from all other Maya sites for which stable isotope data are available. In comparison to Postclassic Lamanai in Belize, and several Classic period sites in the Petén region of Guatemala (Wright and White, 1996; van der Merwe et al., n.d.), it appears that those buried at Iximché were dependent on maize to a greater degree.

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