Stable isotope analysis of white-tailed deer teeth as a paleoenvironmental proxy at the Maya site of La Joyanca, northwestern Petén, Guatemala^*

* Originally presented at the Stable Isotope Summer School 2018 ‘Stable isotopes in ancient and contemporary environments’, 15–19 April 2018, University of Konstanz, Germany.

ABSTRACT

Carbon and oxygen isotopes ratios from herbivore teeth have previously been used as paleo-environmental proxies in temperate zones. However, their utility in tropical zones remains uncertain. In this study, sequential sub-samples from white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) teeth (second and third molars) from the Maya archaeological site of La Joyanca, located in northwestern Petén, Guatemala, show that δ¹⁸O of enamel carbonate corresponds broadly to modern observed precipitation δ¹⁸O over the 10-month period of tooth formation, capturing rainfall seasonality. The analyses also detect significant diachronic differences in the δ¹⁸O between the periods 1100–1000 BP (850–950 A.D.) and 1000–900 BP (950–1050 A.D.) at La Joyanca. The δ¹³C in both periods are indicative of a C₃-plant based diet, which suggests cultivation of maize did not differentially affect deer diet during this period.

KEYWORDS:

• Carbon-13
• enamel
• isotope ecology
• Maya
• Odocoileus virginianus
• oxygen-18
• paleoclimate
• paleoecology
• teeth
• Yucatán

Acknowledgements

We owe great thanks to Dr David Porinchu, and Dr Elizabeth Reitz, who served on MJRA’s Master’s committee at the University of Georgia, from which this paper is derived. Many thanks also go to the Environmental Archaeology Program (EAP) of the Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH), University of Florida and to the Instituto de Antropología e Historia de Guatemala for their permission for excavation at the site.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Maria Rivera-Araya http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0958-6223

Suzanne Pilaar Birch http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1544-5881

Notes

* Originally presented at the Stable Isotope Summer School 2018 ‘Stable isotopes in ancient and contemporary environments’, 15–19 April 2018, University of Konstanz, Germany.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Delta Kappa Gamma International Society for Key Women Educators and the Center for Archaeological Sciences at the University of Georgia. First author's scholarship was granted by the Fulbright Foreign Student Program and Universidad de Costa Rica.