| Abstract: |
The introduction of stable isotope analysis (carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, sulphur) of bones and food residues allows anthropologists to define more precisely the actual consumption of patterns of extinct populations. However, this requires that: a) we know the ranges of compositions of possible foods
b) that there be isotopic variability in these foods (although some information about tropic-levels can be obtained for consumers of isotopically montonous foods
c) that isotopic offsets (fractionations) between diet and sample (e.g., collagen) are known
and d) that samples are well-preserved. We can determine the dietary proportions of \iN\i+1 foods if isotope ratios are measured for \iN\i elements and if not three foods are co-linear in delta-space. Studies of ancient human populations from North and Central America are used to show that: a) variation in diet within a single time plane for a given "culture" is limited except possibly where status differences occur
b) variation in diet through space and time can be easily recognized and may in some cases be realted to independently inferrable historical or environmental factors. In practice, the precision of istopic evidence to infer diet has limitations: 1) variations in delta's of foods
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