Isotopic evidence of immigration linked to status during the Weeden Island and Suwannee Valley periods in North Florida

Stable isotope analysis provides an innovative and detailed approach with which to study dietary patterns and the local environment of residence, permitting clearer understandings of the biological effects of status. This study characterizes enamel carbonate δ^ sup 13^C and δ^ sup 18^O from three burial mounds in North Florida to relate diet and residence during early life to archaeologically determined status. Stable isotope analyses have become an integral part of bioarchaeology and provide a powerful set of analytical tools for reconstructing the diets (Katzenberg and Harrison 1997; Schwarcz and Schoeninger 1991; Ambrose 1993) and migratory histories (Price, Burton, and Bentley 2002; White et al. 1998) of ancient populations. As direct measures of macronutrient intake and local environment, stable isotopes often complement other archaeological lines of evidence and yield novel and key insights into ancient populations. The assumption underlying these analyses is that ratios of isotopes such as carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen reflect the ratios in consumed animals, plants and water; in essence, that one is what one eats and drinks. Because of their utility and salience to bioarchaeological research, stable isotope analyses have been applied to skeletal populations in many different regions of the world. Moreover, because social status can often result in differential dietary patterns related to high- and low-status foods, stable isotope analysis permits assessments of differential status (Ubelaker, Katzenberg, and Doyon 1995) or lack thereof (White, Longstaffe, and Law 1999) when analyzed in combination with archaeological data. This study seeks to relate longitudinal dietary and migratory trends to archaeologically defined social status in two poorly preserved skeletal populations in North Horida, one associated with the early Weeden Island culture and one with the succeeding Suwannee Valley culture, which is contemporaneous with late Weeden Island cultures elsewhere in northern Florida. The Early Weeden Island period I (Late Middle Woodland) in North Florida (A.D. 145-785) is characterized by villages, often with ceremonial mounds and plazas, distinctive ceramic and lithic styles, a broad-spectrum hunter-gatherer subsistence pattern, and some status differentiation. The early portion of the Suwannee Valley culture (Late Woodland; A.D. 785-ca. 1200) is characterized by settlements that are less dense, more numerous, and smaller than the earlier Weeden Island settlement system. After A.D. 1200, Suwannee Valley settlements are more nucleated and larger and are believed to be associated with maize agriculture and a chiefdom level of sociopolitical organization (Milanich 1994:348-353). Corn cob-impressed pottery is found at late Suwannee Valley village sites. It is thought that the early portion of the Suwannee Valley culture, as well as the contemporaneous, post-Early Weeden Island Wakulla culture in Northwest Florida, "may correlate with increased reliance on agriculture," though direct evidence in the form of plant remains is lacking from North Florida sites (Milanich 1994:350). It is only after A.D. 1200 that maize appears to become an important agricultural crop, as evidenced by corn cob impressions on ceramic vessels. There is no evidence for widespread maize agriculture in the early Weeden Island period in North Horida, and indeed little evidence for a heavy reliance on maize in much of Horida until the late pre-contact period (Larsen et al. 2001:72). If maize were being cultivated and eaten during that time, it has been surmised that it was used ceremonially rather than as a staple crop. Archaeological evidence of differential status may therefore have been related to biological evidence of differential diet, with evidence of some maize consumption likely indicative of higher status. This study explores biological aspects of status through the reconstruction of weaning trends and childhood dietary and migratory patterns at the McKeithen site, an early Weeden Island village in North Horida, using stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in enamel carbonate. …