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Isotopic Evidence for Early Maize Cultivation in New York State

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

J. C. Vogel  and
Nikolaas J. Van Der Merwe
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Abstract

Plants metabolize carbon dioxide photosynthetically either through a 3-carbon (Calvin) or 4-carbon pathway. Most plants are of the C-3 type; C-4 plants are primarily grasses adapted to hot, arid environments. Since C-4 plants have a higher 13C/12C ratio than C-3 plants, animals and humans with a significant C-4 plant food-intake will have higher 13C/12C ratios as well. Maize is a C-4 plant, hence maize cultivators living in predominantly C-3 plant environments should show significant isotopic differences from local hunter-gatherers in their skeletal remains; the importance of maize in their diet should also be measurable. The practicability of this method is demonstrated for New York State archaeological materials and wider implications are mentioned.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 42 , Issue 2 , April 1977 , pp. 238 - 242
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1977

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