Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Aztec diets at the residential site of San Cristobal Ecatepec through stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of bone collagen

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper presents the first systematic study of Aztec diets using bone collagen stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis. The objective was to identify the dietary patterns of an Aztec community living in the Basin of Mexico. The collection analyzed includes adult and subadult skeletons from the residential site of San Cristóbal Ecatepec (in present-day Mexico State) (A.D. 900–1521). The isotopic data were compared with available ethnohistoric and archeological information about Aztec diets. We conclude that Ecatepec residents consumed mostly C4 and CAM plants (as opposed to C3 plants), terrestrial animals, and some lacustrine resources. They shared similar diets and foodways, as indicated by the fact that they belonged to the same socio-economic group and that there were no substantial sex-based differences indicated by the isotopic data. The slightly higher carbon isotope compositions of the men compared with the women could be evidence of pulque consumption by the men—as noted in the ethnohistoric record. The nitrogen isotope compositions of the subadults, however, show some variability related to breastfeeding and weaning practices, with infants weaning between 2 and 4 years of age.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

This project was approved by the Consejo de Arqueología of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) with permit: 401.B[4]19.2016/36/0273.

Notes

  1. A form of physical settlement within the socio-political organization in which there is a religious or governmental center or capital for a group of communities or neighborhoods (calpulli) (Gibson 1971; Smith 2008). A hierarchy existed within the system based on settlement size, ranging from small hamlets (as the case of Ecatepec), villages, mid-sized towns, to large urban centers (Trejo Rangel 2014).

  2. The increase in fossil fuel burning since the Industrial era has decreased the δ13C of atmospheric CO2 by about 1.5‰ in the early 1990s (Wahlen 1994) and the size of the decrease is now ~ 2‰. Our correction of + 1.5‰ is based on the time of collection of these plants and animals by Lounejeva-Baturina et al. (2006), Morales Puente et al. (2012), and Warinner (2010).

  3. Collagen yields for samples DM 72–77 and DM 92–106 are not available. Based on the rest of the quality indicator results, however, these samples are well within the ranges of acceptable collagen preservation.

  4. Uncalibrated date: 10, 755 ± 75 years before present (BP). This date was calibrated using the online software OxCal 4.3.2 (Bonk Ramsey 2009). IntCal 13 was the calibration curve used (Reimer et al. 2013).

References

  • Ambrose SH (1991) Effects of diet, climate and physiology on nitrogen isotope abundances in terrestrial foodwebs. J Archaeol Sci 18:293–317

    Google Scholar 

  • Ambrose SH (1993) Isotopic analysis of paleodiets: methodological and interpretive considerations. In: Sandford MK (ed) Investigations of ancient human tissue: chemical analyses in anthropology, vol 10. Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, Langhorne, pp 59–130

    Google Scholar 

  • Ambrose SH, Norr L (1992) On stable isotopic data and prehistoric subsistence in the Soconusco region. Curr Anthropol 33(4):401–404

    Google Scholar 

  • Ambrose SH, Norr L (1993) Carbon isotope evidence for routing of dietary protein to bone collagen, and whole diet to bone apatite carbonate: purified diet growth experiments. In: Lambert G, Grupe G (eds) Prehistoric human bone archaeology at the molecular level. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp 1–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Ávila López R (2006) Mexicaltzingo: Arqueología de un Reino Culhua-Mexica. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City

    Google Scholar 

  • Berdan F, Anawalt P (1997) The essential codex Mendoza. University of California Press, California

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonk Ramsey C (2009) Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51(1):337–360

    Google Scholar 

  • Bressani R, Valiente AT, Tejada CE (1962) All-vegetable protein mixtures for human feeding: the value of combinations of lime-treated corn and cooked black beans. J Food Sci 27(4):394–400

    Google Scholar 

  • Brumfiel EM (2009) El Estudio de la Clase Común: El Asentamiento de Xaltocan durante el Posclásico en la Cuenca de México. Cuicuilco 47:59–86

    Google Scholar 

  • Casar I, Morales P, Manzanilla LR, Cienfuegos E, Otero F (2017a) Dietary differences in individuals buried in a multiethnic neighborhood in Teotihuacan: stable dental isotopes from Teopancazco. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 9(1):99–115. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-016-0422-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casar I, Morales P, Manzanilla LR, Cienfuegos E, Otero F (2017b) Paleodiet reconstruction based on carbon and nitrogen isotopes of teeth from burials in Teopancazco. In: Manzanilla LR (ed) Multiethnicity and migration at Teopancazco: investigations of a Teotihuacan neighborhood center. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, pp 84–118

    Google Scholar 

  • Casey MM, Post DM (2011) The problem of isotopic baseline: reconstructing the diet and trophic position of fossil animals. Earth Sci Rev 106:131–148

    Google Scholar 

  • Chisholm B (1989) Variation in diet reconstructions based on stable carbon isotopic evidence. In: Price TD (ed) The chemistry of prehistoric human bone. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 10–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Coe SD (1994) America’s first cuisines. University Texas Press, Austin

    Google Scholar 

  • Coplen TB, Brand WA, Gehre M, Gröning M, Meijer HAJ, Toman B, Verkouteren RM (2006) New guidelines for δ13C measurements. Anal Chem 78(7):2439–2441

    Google Scholar 

  • Corona E (1997) Avian resources at a Mexican site at the time of the Spanish conquest. Int J Osteoarchaeol 7:321–325

    Google Scholar 

  • Corona E, González Quezada R, Giles Flores I (2015) La Arqueofauna del sitio El Tlatoani: Una Contribución al Conocimiento de la Subsistencia en el Nororiente de Morelos (México). Rev Archaeobios 4(1):59–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Cortés H (1986) Letters from Mexico. A. R., Pagden, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Cox G, Sealy J (1997) Investigating identity and life histories: isotopic analysis and historical documentation of slave skeletons found on the Cape Town Foreshore, South Africa. Int J Hist Archaeol 1(3):207–224

    Google Scholar 

  • Danforth E (2000) A bioarchaeological analysis of the human remains from the Postclassic site of Xaltocan, Mexico, D.F. In: Brumfiel EM, Johnson A (eds) Unidades Domesticas in Xaltocan Postclásico: Informe Anual de 1999. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City, pp 36–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Dawson TE, Mambelli S, Plamboeck AH, Templer PH, Tu KP (2002) Stable isotopes in plant ecology. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 33:507–559

    Google Scholar 

  • Deng M, Li D, Luo J, Xiao Y, Pan Q, Zhang X, Jin M, Zhao M, Yan J (2017) The genetic architecture of amino acids dissection by association and linkage analysis in maize. Plant Biotechnol J 15:1250–1263

    Google Scholar 

  • DeNiro MJ (1985) Post-mortem preservation and alteration of “in vivo” bone collagen ratios: implications for Paleodietary analysis. Nature 317:806–809

    Google Scholar 

  • DeNiro MJ, Epstein S (1978) Influence of diet on the distribution of carbon isotopes in animals. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 42:495–506

    Google Scholar 

  • DeNiro MJ, Epstein S (1981) Influence of diet on the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in animals. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 45:341–351

    Google Scholar 

  • Díaz del Castillo B (2008) Historia de la Conquista de Nueva España. Editorial Purrua, Mexico City

    Google Scholar 

  • Durán D (1964) The Aztecs: the history of the Indies of New Spain. Orion Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Farquhar GD, Ehleringer JR, Hubick KT (1989) Carbon isotope discrimination and photosynthesis. Annu Rev Plant Physiol Plant Mol Biol 40:503–537

    Google Scholar 

  • Fauman-Fichman R, Smith ME (2015) Capítulo B8: Restos de Flora. In: Smith ME (ed) Artefactos Domésticos de Casas Posclásicas en Cuexcomate y Capilco, Morelos, BAR international series no, vol 2696. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp 235–242

  • Fauman-Fichman R, Wharton J, Smith ME (2019) Capítulo C8: Restos de Flora y Fauna. In: Smith ME (ed) Excavaciones de Casas Postclásicas en Yautepec, Morelos: Informe Final. BAR International Series. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp 397–408

    Google Scholar 

  • Fogel ML, Tuross N, Owsley DW (1989) Nitrogen isotope tracers of human lactation in modern and archaeological populations. Annual Report of the Director Geophysical Laboratory (1988-1989). Carnegie Institution, Washington, pp 111–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Folch J, Lees M, Sloane-Stanley GH (1957) A simple method for the isolation and purification of total lipids from animal tissues. J Biol Chem 226(1):497–509

    Google Scholar 

  • Froehle AW, Kellner CM, Schoeninger MJ (2010) Effect of diet and protein source on carbon stable isotope ratios in collagen: follow up to Warnner and Tuross (2009). J Archaeol Sci 37:2662–2670

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuller BT, Fuller JL, Harris DA, Hedges REM (2006) Detection of breastfeeding and weaning in modern human infants with carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios. Am J Phys Anthropol 129:279–298

    Google Scholar 

  • Furst P (1978) Spirulina. Hum Nat 1(3):60–65

    Google Scholar 

  • García Chávez R, Vélez Saldaña NV, Gamboa Cabezas LM (2006) Informe De La Colección Osteológica Humana, Del Proyecto, Circuito Exterior Mexiquense, Ecatepec, Estado De México. Report on file with the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), Mexico State

  • Gibson C (1971) Structure of the Aztec Empire. In: Handbook of middle American Indians, vol 10. University of Texas Press, Austin, pp 376–394

    Google Scholar 

  • González S, Jiménez López JC, Hedges R, Huddart D, Ohman J, Turner A, Pompa JA (2003) Earliest humans in the Americas: new evidence from Mexico. J Hum Evol 44:379–387

    Google Scholar 

  • Guiry E (2019) Complexities of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope biogeochemistry in ancient freshwater ecosystems: implication for the study of past subsistence and environmental change. Front Ecol Evol 7:313. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00313

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guzmán AF, Polaco OJ (2008) Los Recursos Faunísticos de Chalco: Tolteca Temprano a Azteca Tardío. In: Hodge MG (ed) Un Lugar de Jade: Sociedad y Economía en el Antiguo Chalco. University of Pittsburgh/Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City, pp 304–340

    Google Scholar 

  • Hastorf CA, DeNiro MJ (1985) Reconstruction of prehistoric plant production and cooking practices by a new isotopic method. Nature 315:489–491

    Google Scholar 

  • Heath-Smith C, Wharton J (2015) Capítulo B9: Restos de Fauna. In: Smith ME (ed) Artefactos Domésticos de Casas Posclásicas en Cuexcomate y Capilco, Morelos, BAR international series no, vol 2696. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp 243–282

  • Hillson S (2008) Dental pathology. In: Katzenberg MA, Saunders SR (eds) Biological anthropology of the human skeleton. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New Jersey, pp 299–340

    Google Scholar 

  • Katzenberg MA, Lovell N (1999) Stable isotope variation in pathological bone. Int J Osteoarchaeol 9:316–324

    Google Scholar 

  • Keegan WF, DeNiro MJ (1988) Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of bone collagen used to study coral-reef and terrestrial components of prehistoric Bahamian diet. Am Antiq 53:320–336

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly JF (2000) Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in the study of avian and mammalian trophic ecology. Can J Zool 78:1–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohn MJ, Cerling TE (2002) Stable isotope composition of biological apatite. In: Kohn MJ, Rakovan J, Hughes JM (eds) Reviews in mineralogy & geochemistry Vol. 48; Phosphates: Geochemical, Geobiological, and Materials Importance. Mineralogical Society of America, Washington, D. C, pp 455–488

    Google Scholar 

  • Krueger HW, Sullivan CH (1984) Models for carbon isotope fractionation between diet and bone. In: Turnland JE, Johnson PE (eds) Stable isotopes in nutrition. American Chemical Society, Washington, pp 205–220

    Google Scholar 

  • Larsen CS (1997) Bioarchaeology: interpreting behavior from the human skeleton. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee-Thorp JA (2008) On isotopes and old bones. Archaeometry 50:925–950

    Google Scholar 

  • Longin R (1971) New method of collagen extraction for radiocarbon dating. Nature 230:241–242

    Google Scholar 

  • Lounejeva-Baturina E, Morales Puente P, Cabadas Báez HV, Alvarado C, Sedov S, Vallejo Gómez E, Solleiro Rebolledo E (2006) Late Pleistocene to Holocene environmental changes from δ13C determinations in soils at Teotihuacan, Mexico. Geofis Int 45(2):85–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Manin A (2017) Informe Técnico: Estudio de los Restos de Fauna Procedentes del Sitio de Calixtlahuaca, Estado de México, México. Report submitted to the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), Mexico City

    Google Scholar 

  • Manin A, Corona E, Alexander M, Craig A, Kennedy Thornton E, Yang DY, Richards M, Speller CF (2018) Diversity of management in Mesoamerican Turkeys: archaeological, isotopic and genetic evidence. R Soc Open Sci 5:171613. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171613

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin RB, Burr DB, Sharkey NA, Fyhrie DP (2015) Modeling and remodeling of bone. In: Skeletal Tissue Mechanics. Springer, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3002-9_3

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • McClung de Tapia E, Martínez Yrizar D (2005) Paleoethnobotanical evidence from Postclassic Xaltocan. In: Brumfiel EM (ed) Production and power at Postclassic Xaltocan. University of Pittsburgh/Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City, pp 207–232

    Google Scholar 

  • Metcalfe JZ, White CD, Longstaffe FJ, Wrobel G, Collin Cook D, Pyburn A (2009) Isotopic evidence for diet at Chau Hiix, Belize: testing regional models of hierarchy and heterarchy. Lat Am Antiq 20(1):15–36

    Google Scholar 

  • Morales Puente P, Cienfuegos-Alvarado E, Manzanilla-Naim LR, Otero-Trujano FJ (2012) Estudio de la Paleodieta Empleando Isótopos Estables de los Elementos Carbono, Oxígeno y Nitrógeno en Restos Humanos y Fauna Encontrados en el Barrio Teotihuacano de Teopancazco, Teotihuacan. In: Manzanilla LR (ed) Estudios Arqueométricos del Centro de Barrio de Teopancazco en Teotihuacan. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, pp 347–423

    Google Scholar 

  • Moreiras Reynaga DK (2019) The life histories of Aztec sacrifices: a stable isotope study (C, N, and O) of offerings from Tlatelolco and the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan. Dissertation. The University of Western Ontario

  • Muñoz Zurita R (2012) Larousse Diccionario Enciclopédico de la Gastronomía Mexicana. Ediciones Larousse, Mexico City

    Google Scholar 

  • Nado KL, Zolotova N, Knudson KJ (2017) Paleodietary analysis of the sacrificial victims from the feathered serpent pyramid, Teotihuacan. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 9:117–132

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Leary MH (1981) Carbon isotope fractionation in plants. Phytochemistry 20(4):553–567

    Google Scholar 

  • Olsen KC, White CD, Longstaffe FJ, von Heyking K (2014) Intraskeletal isotopic compositions (δ13C, δ15N) of bone collagen: nonpathological and pathological variation. Am J Phys Anthropol 153:598–604

    Google Scholar 

  • Olsen KC, White CD, Longstaffe FJ, Rühli FJ, Warinner C, Salazar-García DC (2018) Isotopic anthropology of rural German medieval diet: intra- and inter-population variability. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 10:1053–1065

    Google Scholar 

  • Ortíz de Montellano B (1990) Aztec medicine, health, and nutrition. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsons JR (2010) The pastoral niche in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica. In: Staller JE, Carrasco M (eds) Pe-Columbian foodways: interdisciplinary approaches to food, culture, and markets in ancient Mesoamerica. Springer, New York, pp 109–136

    Google Scholar 

  • Picó B, Nuez F (2000) Minor crops of Mesoamerica in early sources (II). Herbs used as condiments. Genet Resour Crop Evol 74:541–552

    Google Scholar 

  • Powis TG, Stanchly N, White CD, Healy PF, Awe JJ, Longstaffe FJ (1999) A reconstruction of middle Preclassic Maya subsistence economy at Cahal Pech, Belize. Antiquity 73:364–376

    Google Scholar 

  • Qi H, Coplen TB, Geilmann H, Brand WA, Bo JK (2003) Two new organic reference materials for δ13C and δ15N measurements and a new value for the δ13C of NBS 22 oil. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 17:2483–2487

    Google Scholar 

  • Reimer PJ, Bard E, Bayliss A, Beck JW, Blackwell PG, Ramsey CB, Buck CE, Cheng H, Edwards RL, Friedrich M, Grootes PM, Guilderson TP, Haflidason H, Hajdas I, Hatté C, Heaton TJ, Hoffmann DL, Hogg AG, Hughen KA, Kaiser KF, Kromer B, Manning SW, Niu M, Reimer RW, Richards DA, Scott EM, Southon JR, Staff RA, Turney CSM, van der Plicht J (2013) IntCal13 and Marine13 radicoarbon age calibration curves 0-50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55(4):1869–1887

    Google Scholar 

  • Reitsema L (2013) Beyond diet reconstruction: stable isotope applications to human physiology, health, and nutrition. Am J Hum Biol 25:445–456

    Google Scholar 

  • Sahagún B (1932) Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España. Editorial Porrua, Mexico City

    Google Scholar 

  • Sahagún B (1981) Florentine codex: general history of the things of New Spain. Books II-X. The School of American Research and The University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoeninger MJ, DeNiro MJ (1984) Nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition of bone collagen from marine and terrestrial animals. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 48:625–639

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoeninger MJ, DeNiro MJ, Tauber H (1983) Stable nitrogen isotope ratios of bone collagen reflect marine and terrestrial components of prehistoric human diet. Science 220(4604):1381–1383

    Google Scholar 

  • Sealy J, Armstrong R, Schrire C (1995) Beyond lifetime averages: tracing life histories through isotopic analysis of different calcified tissues from archaeological human skeletons. Antiquity 69(263):290–300

    Google Scholar 

  • Serra MC, Valadez R (1986) Aprovechamiento de los Recursos Lacustres en la Cuenca de México: Los Patos. Anal Antropol 23:51–86

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith ME (1996) The Aztecs. Blackwell Publishers, Malden

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith ME (2008) Aztec city-state capitals. University Press of Florida, Gainesville

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith ME (2016) At home with the Aztecs: an archaeologist uncovers their daily life. Routledge, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith ME, Price TJ (1994) Aztec-period agricultural terraces in Morelos, Mexico: evidence for household-level agricultural intensification. J Field Archaeol 21:169–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith ME, Wharton JB, Olson JM (2002) Aztec feasts, rituals, and markets: political uses of ceramic vessels in a commercial economy. In: Bray TL (ed) The archaeology and politics of food and feasting in early states and empires. Kluwer Academic Publishers, New York, pp 235–270

    Google Scholar 

  • Somerville AD, Sugiyama N, Manzanilla LR (2017) Leporid management and specialized food production at Teotihuacan: stable isotope data from cottontail and jackrabbit bone collagen. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 9:83–97. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-016-0420-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soule EC (1979) Amaranth: food of the Aztecs. Masterkey 53(4):143–146

    Google Scholar 

  • Soustelle J (1961) The daily life of the Aztecs: on the eve of the Spanish conquest. Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Staller JE, Carrasco M (2010) Pe-Columbian foodways: interdisciplinary approaches to food, culture, and markets in ancient Mesoamerica. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Szpak P, Millaire J-F, White CD, Longstaffe FJ (2012) Influence of seabird guano and camelid dung fertilization on the nitrogen isotopic composition of field-grown maize (Zea Mays). J Archaeol Sci 39:3721–3740

    Google Scholar 

  • Szpak P, White CD, Longstaffe FJ, Millaire J-F, Vásquez Sánchez VF (2013) Carbon and nitrogen isotopic survey of northern Peruvian plants: baselines for paleodietary and paleoecological studies. PLoS One 8:e53763

    Google Scholar 

  • Tate CE (2010) The axolotl as food and symbol in the basin of Mexico, from 1200 BC to today. In: Carrasco M, Staller J (eds) Pre-Columbian foodways: interdisciplinary approaches to food, culture, and markets in ancient Mesoamerica. Springer, New York, pp 511–533

    Google Scholar 

  • Trejo Rangel A (2014) Perfil Bioarqueológico de la Población Pre-Hispánica del Tlatel de San Cristobal Ecatepec, Estado de México: Análisis Comparativo. MA thesis. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

  • Tsutaya T, Yoneda M (2013) Quantitative reconstruction of weaning ages in archaeological human populations using bone collagen nitrogen isotope ratios and approximate Bayesian computation. PLoS One 8(8):e72327. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0072327

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tykot RH (2002) Contribution of stable isotope analysis to understanding dietary variation among the Maya. ACS Symp Ser 831:214–230. https://doi.org/10.1021/bk-2002-0831.ch014

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valadez Azúa R, Rodríguez Galicia B (2005) Faunal remains at Xaltocan. In: Brumfiel EM (ed) Production and power at Postclassic Xaltocan. University of Pittsburgh/Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City, pp 233–246

    Google Scholar 

  • Valadez Azúa R, Rodríguez Galicia B (2014) Uso de la Fauna, Estudios Arqueozoológicos y Tendencias Alimentarias en Culturas Prehispánicas del Centro de México. Anal Antropol 48(1):139–166

    Google Scholar 

  • Van der Merwe NJ (1982) Carbon isotopes, photosynthesis and archaeology. Am Sci 70:596–606

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Klinken GJ (1999) Bone collagen quality indicators for palaeodietary and radiocarbon measurements. J Archaeol Sci 26:687–695

    Google Scholar 

  • Wahlen M (1994) Carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and methane in the atmosphere: abundance and isotopic composition. In: Lejtha K, Mitchener RH (eds) Stable isotopes in ecology and environmental science. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 93–113

    Google Scholar 

  • Warinner CG (2010) Life and death at Teposcolula Yucundaa: mortuary, archaeogenetic, and isotopic investigations of the early colonial period in Mexico. Dissertation, Harvard University

  • Welle S (1999) Human protein metabolism. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • White CD, Schwarcz HP (1989) Ancient Maya diet: as inferred from isotopic and elemental analysis of human bone. J Archaeol Sci 16:451–474

    Google Scholar 

  • White CD, Healy PF, Schwarcz HP (1993) Intensive agriculture, social status, and Maya diet at Pacbitun, Belize. J Anthropol Res 49(4):347–375

    Google Scholar 

  • White CD, Spence MW, Longstaffe FJ, Law KR (2000) Testing the nature of Teotihuacan imperialism at Kaminaljuyu using phosphate oxygen-isotope ratios. J Anthropol Res 56:535–558

    Google Scholar 

  • White CD, Pendergast DM, Longstaffe FJ, Law KR (2001) Social complexity and food systems at Altun Ha, Belize: the isotopic evidence. Lat Am Antiq 12(4):371–393

    Google Scholar 

  • White CD, Spence MW, Longstaffe FJ (2004a) Demography and ethnic continuity in the Tlailotlacan enclave of Teotihuacan: the evidence from stable oxygen isotopes. J Anthropol Archaeol 23:385–403

    Google Scholar 

  • White CD, Storey R, Longstaffe FJ, Spence MW (2004b) Immigration, assimilation, and status in the ancient city of Teotihuacan: stable isotopic evidence from Tlajinga 33. Lat Am Antiq 15(2):176–198

    Google Scholar 

  • Widmer RJ, Storey R (2017) Skeletal health and patterns of animal food consumption at S3W1:33 (Tlajinga 33), Teotihuacan. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 9:51–60

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright LE (1994) Sacrifice of the earth? Diet, health, and inequality in the Pasión Maya. Dissertation, University of Chicago

  • Wright LE, Schwarcz HP (1998) Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in human tooth enamel: identifying breastfeeding and weaning in prehistory. Am J Phys Anthropol 106:1–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright LE, Schwarcz HP (1999) Correspondence between stable carbon, oxygen and nitrogen isotopes in human tooth enamel and dentine: infant diets at Kaminaljuyu. J Archaeol Sci 26:1159–1170

    Google Scholar 

  • Zambrano L, Valiente E, Vander Zanden MJ (2010) Stable isotope variation of a highly heterogenous shallow freshwater system. Hydrobiologia 646:327–336. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-010-0182-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank the Consejo de Arqueología of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) for approving this study; Patricia Ledesma Bouchan, Leonardo López Luján, Ximena Chávez Balderas, and Israel Elizalde for the guidance and support; Kim Law, Grace Yau, and Li Huang for the support in Western’s Laboratory for Stable Isotope Science (LSIS); Lourdes Reynaga Amézquita and Karen Ortega for the assistance during sampling in Mexico; and Amedeo Sghinolfi for editing Fig. 1. Many thanks to Michael Spence and Lisa Overholtzer for providing feedback on an earlier version of this manuscript as well as two anonymous reviewers for suggestions that helped improve this manuscript. This is Laboratory for Stable Isotope Science Contribution #379.

Funding

This project was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship to DKMR), a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Discovery Grant (FJL), Canada Foundation for Innovation and Ontario Research Fund Infrastructure grants (FJL), the Canada Research Chairs Program (FJL), and The University of Western Ontario (J-FM).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

DKMR, J-FM, FJL, and REGC designed the research; REGC excavated and curated the collection; DKMR performed research; DKMR, J-FM, and FJL interpreted the data; DKMR wrote the initial manuscript with input from J-FM, FJL, and REGC.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Diana K. Moreiras Reynaga.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(DOCX 42.2 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Moreiras Reynaga, D.K., Millaire, JF., García Chávez, R.E. et al. Aztec diets at the residential site of San Cristobal Ecatepec through stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of bone collagen. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 12, 216 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01174-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01174-3

Keywords

Navigation