Turkey domestication in the northern Southwest is not clearly defined, in part because wild turkeys are difficult to differentiate from domestic turkeys based on skeletal morphology. Stable isotope analysis is a method that researchers have used extensively to help build a picture of how turkey populations were managed by humans. Earlier evidence for C₄ plant consumption by turkeys is limited to a small number of published studies. Using a stable isotope mixing model with a sample of 19 turkey bones from five early Pueblo habitation sites in northwestern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado, we estimated that the turkey diet consisted of 60–89% C₄ plants, with the remainder consisting of C₃ plants and invertebrates. This contributes to the existing body of data on turkey diet in the northern Southwest during the Basketmaker III and Pueblo I periods and shows that a mixing model can be useful for turkey paleodietary analysis.

西南部北部的火鸡驯化没有明确定义，部分原因是野生火鸡很难根据骨骼形态与家养火鸡区分开来。稳定同位素分析是研究人员广泛使用的一种方法，可以帮助人们了解人类如何管理火鸡种群。火鸡消耗C ₄植物的早期证据仅限于少数已发表的研究。使用来自新墨西哥西北部和科罗拉多西南部五个早期普韦布洛居住地的 19 块火鸡骨头样本的稳定同位素混合模型，我们估计火鸡饮食由 60-89% 的 C ₄植物组成，其余由 C ₃组成植物和无脊椎动物。这有助于在 Basketmaker III 和 Pueblo I 时期西南部北部现有的火鸡饮食数据，并表明混合模型可用于火鸡古饮食分析。