Palaeodiet inferred from pre‐Hispanic and early colonial human remains from Carrizales, Zaña Valley, Peru

Abstract

This study utilises multi‐isotopic analysis to reconstruct diet and source‐water consumption from human remains collected at Carrizales, in the Zaña Valley of northern coastal Peru. Carrizales is a multicomponent site that encompasses the remains of (a) Early Intermediate Period (200–800 CE) cemeteries (Conjuntos 126 and 127), (b) Late Sicán/Lambayeque period (ca. 1100–1350 CE) domestic occupations (Conjuntos 125, 128, and 131), and (c) a planned town (reducción) into which indigenous people were resettled under Spanish rule, ca. 1572 CE (Conjunto 123). Faunal and botanical assemblages at the site differ significantly between the Late Sicán/Lambayeque and early colonial phases, suggesting a distinct shift in local subsistence regimes following Spanish colonisation and resettlement. Human remains were collected from Carrizales for the characterisation of dietary isotopes and further examination of the impacts of Spanish colonialism on native foodways. Carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotope values were characterised in the enamel carbonate, bone carbonate, and bone collagen of individuals associated with Early Intermediate Period contexts (N = 4) and the late 16th century chapel within the site's reducción (N = 21). Over half of the study sample failed to produce viable bone collagen, an issue that is common in bioarchaeological samples from the north coast of Peru. However, among those with viable bone collagen and carbonate, there were minimal differences in δ13C, δ18O, and δ15N values between the two phases. This extends to values in enamel carbonate, which is highly resistant to diagenesis. Therefore, patterns in isotope values do not mirror the significant differences manifest in food remains from Carrizales. We suggest that (a) the diets of Early Intermediate Period individuals and Early Colonial period individuals buried at the site were quite similar, contrasting with the patterns indicated by Late Intermediate Period food remains, and (b) both populations obtained water from similar sources—a pattern that reinforces the characterisation of reducción in the Zaña Valley as a relatively local phenomenon in which nearby populations were concentrated into planned towns, rather than drawn from distant valleys.