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Leporid management and specialized food production at Teotihuacan: stable isotope data from cottontail and jackrabbit bone collagen

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Abstract

Archaeological research at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Teotihuacan (ad 1–ad 550) in the Basin of Mexico provides evidence for leporid (cottontails and jackrabbits) breeding and/or management within a residential complex of the city, Oztoyahualco. The present study tests this notion by analyzing Teotihuacan leporid bone collagen samples (n = 134) for stable isotope ratios of carbon (δ13Ccollagen) and nitrogen (δ15Ncollagen) to provide information on ancient leporid diet and ecology. Results demonstrate that carbon-stable isotope values from Oztoyahualco specimens are significantly higher than those from other contexts at Teotihuacan and from a sample of modern specimens from the region. These data are consistent with the notion that leporids from Oztoyahualco consumed diets high in C4 and CAM plants, such as the human-cultivated staples of maize (Zea mays), nopal cactus (Opuntia sp.), and maguey (Agave sp.). Nitrogen-stable isotope results show no significant differences between Oztoyahualco and other contexts, suggesting that Oztoyahualco leporids inhabited similar environments, ate food grown on similar soils, and were feeding at the same trophic level. When considered in combination with archaeological data and previously published isotopic results, δ13Ccollagen data from Oztoyahualco support the idea that leporids were artificially provisioned by humans, consistent with the hypothesis that they were bred and/or managed through human labor. More broadly, these results hint that food production at Teotihuacan was at least in part conducted by specialized workers in a manner similar to that of commercialized market economy of the later Aztec Empire (ad 1428–1521).

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Acknowledgments

We thank Doctor María de los Ángeles Olay Barrientos, the Consejo Nacional de México, and the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia for supporting the study. Sample selection was approved and facilitated by Dr. Raúl Valadez Azúa and Dr. Bernardo Rodríguez Galicia, coordinators of the Laboaratorio de Paleozoología Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Funding was provided by a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (NSF# 1262186; PIs: MJS and ADS) and a NSF-IGERT Fellowship (ADS; NSF# 0903551). Modern specimens were obtained from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Dr. Bruce Deck assisted with isotopic analysis. We thank the volunteers of the Paleodiet Laboratory, including Janell Bryant, Cheyenne Butcher, Amanda Edwards, Adrienne Koh, Hollie Lappin, Sean Lee, Christi Menger, Tykie Paxton, Kelsie Telson, Sandra Victorini, Jonathan Wong, Jason Kjolsing, Mikael Fauvelle, Sarah Baitzel, Matthew Sitek, and Misha Miller Sisson for their assistance in sample preparation. Additionally, we thank Melanie Beasley for laboratory support and comments.

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  1. Department of Anthropology, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0532, USA

    Andrew D. Somerville & Margaret J. Schoeninger

  2. Department of Anthropology, California State University, Dominguez Hills, 1000 E. Victoria St., Carson, CA, 90747, USA

    Andrew D. Somerville

  3. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, 3G5, Fairfax, VA, 22030, USA

    Nawa Sugiyama

  4. Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, MRC 112, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20560, USA

    Nawa Sugiyama

  5. Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, 04510, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

    Linda R. Manzanilla

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Correspondence to Andrew D. Somerville.

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Table presenting contextual information and isotopic data for modern leporid specimens. (XLSX 13 kb)

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Table presenting contextual information and isotopic data for archeological leporid specimens. (XLSX 31 kb)

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Somerville, A.D., Sugiyama, N., Manzanilla, L.R. et al. Leporid management and specialized food production at Teotihuacan: stable isotope data from cottontail and jackrabbit bone collagen. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 9, 83–97 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-016-0420-2

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