Stable Isotopes and the Human-Animal Interface in Maya Biosocial and Environmental Systems

Abstract

Stable isotope analysis of human skeletons has been used succesfully for years to determine the quatity and kind of animals consumed as food, even in the humid tropics where skeletal material may not be diagnostically useful for many other things. This paper discusses the largely unrealized potential, and the pros and cons, of using stable isotopic analysis of animals to answer questions and humans. Animals share the same ecosystem with humans and are often incorporated into social and ideological systems. The paper examines the use of intentionally fed animals as proxies for humans where human material is politically or archaeologically unavailable; it also reviews other aspects of ancient life, including the role of animals in the exercise of ideological practice, human-animal relationships involved in hunting, synathropy, domestication, and husbanding, and the use of animals as barometers of humaninduced and natural environmental change. The examples in the paper are taken from isotopic analyses at various Maya sites.