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Basketmaker II Subsistence: Carbon Isotopes and Other Dietary Indicators from Cedar Mesa, Utah

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

R. G. Matson  and
Brian Chisholm
R. G. Matson
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6T 2B2
Brian Chisholm
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6T 2B2
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Abstract

Four separate lines of evidence show that the Cedar Mesa Basketmaker II were dependent on maize horticulture: the settlement pattern of the mesa-top Basketmaker II; stable carbon-isotope analysis of Basketmaker and other skeletal remains from the Cedar Mesa area; and two different analyses of coprolites and midden constituents from the Turkey Pen Cave site (a Basketmaker II site in Grand Gulch, which drains parts of Cedar Mesa). All of these analyses concur with a dependence on maize horticulture for the Cedar Mesa Basketmaker II, a dependence not differing significantly from later Pueblo inhabitants of Cedar Mesa and elsewhere. Whether other Basketmaker II variants were as reliant on maize is uncertain, but there are good indications that at least some, and probably all, were. By 2,000 years ago the Basketmaker II peoples on Cedar Mesa were not modified hunters and gatherers, but relied on maize.

Résumé

Résumé

Cuatro líneas de evidencia demuestran que la población de la fase Basketmaker II en Cedar Mesa dependía de la horticultura del maíz. Estas líneas son: el patrón de asentamiento en Cedar Mesa durante la fase Basketmaker II; el análisis isotópico de carbón estable de restos de esqueletos de este y otros períodos provenientes del área de Cedar Mesa; y dos análisis de coprolitos y restos obtenidos en basureros del sitio Turkey Pen Cave (un sitio Basketmaker II en el Grand Gulch que riega parte de Cedar Mesa). Todos estos análisis indican que la población Basketmaker II en Cedar Mesa dependiá del maíz, una dependencia similar a la observada en las fases Pueblo más recientes en Cedar Mesa y otros lugares. No está claro si otras poblaciones Basketmaker II dependían tanto del maíz, pero existen indicaciones de que estefue el caso. En Cedar Mesa, aproximadamente 2.000 años atrás la población Basketmaker II no era cazadora-recolectora sino que dependía del cultivo de maíz.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 56 , Issue 3 , July 1991 , pp. 444 - 459
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1991

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