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Dietary Diversity in the Upper Belize River Valley: A Zooarchaeological and Isotopic Perspective

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Pre-Columbian Foodways

Abstract

Paleobotanical and faunal evidence suggests that Maya polities across the lowlands followed broadly similar dietary regimes. Maize is generally accepted as the main dietary staple, supplemented by beans and squash, along with a variety of wild and partially cultivated plants (Lentz 1999). Terrestrial wild game, especially whitetail deer, supplied an important protein and lipid source that complemented the mainly carbohydrate calories in the diet. Bone chemistry studies, however, provide greater insight into the variability present in Maya diet. While maize supplied less than half of a day’s calories for individuals at some centers, it accounted for as much as 75% of the daily diet at others (Gerry and Krueger 1997). The contribution of animal protein and legumes also varies: individuals in some regions consumed a nearly vegetarian diet while others had regular access to wild game (Gerry 1993; Reed 1999). Variability also exists within populations, and dietary differences exist by sex, age, status, and location. However, no universal pattern is present, and researchers attribute dietary variability to population size, level of agricultural intensification, the social organization of food consumption, and local environmental heterogeneity (Chase et al. 2001; Gerry 1993; Gerry and Krueger 1997; Reed 1999; White et al. 1993; Wright 1997).

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Acknowledgments

Susan Stein analyzed the San Lorenzo fauna and Lizzy Hare inventoried the collection and analyzed the worked bone. Susan Kooiman, Mellissa Ruiz, and staff at UCLA’s Cotsen Institute assisted with preliminary identification of the Xunantunich, Chaa Creek, and Dos Chombitos fauna, and UW-Madison students Amelia Vorpahl, Christina Kerycynsky, and Jackie Malsh helped to classify the worked bone from Xunantunich. Thank you to Richard Leventhal for permission to study the Xunantunich materials and to the Belize Institute of Archaeology. This research would not be possible without Jason Yaeger, T, Douglas Price and James H. Burton of the UW-Madison Department of Anthropology and E. Elizabeth Pilleart, Paula Holahan, and Angela Dassow at the UW-Madison Zoological Museum. Jason Yaeger, David Meiggs, and Erin Kennedy Thornton provided advice that greatly improved the paper, but all omissions or shortcomings are my own.

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    Carolyn R. Freiwald

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    John Staller

  2. Florida State University, Tallahassee, 32306, U.S.A.

    Michael Carrasco

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Freiwald, C.R. (2010). Dietary Diversity in the Upper Belize River Valley: A Zooarchaeological and Isotopic Perspective. In: Staller, J., Carrasco, M. (eds) Pre-Columbian Foodways. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0471-3_16

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