Premium
Post‐weaning diet in archaeological human populations: A meta‐analysis of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios of child skeletons
Author(s) -
Tsutaya Takumi
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.23295
Subject(s) - subsistence agriculture , δ13c , isotope analysis , δ15n , weaning , trophic level , population , demography , isotopes of nitrogen , stable isotope ratio , biology , ecology , zoology , agriculture , physics , quantum mechanics , sociology
Objectives Childhood is a unique stage in human life history, in which subadults have completed their weaning process but are still dependent on older individuals for survival. Although the importance of food provisioning during childhood has been intensively discussed, childhood diet in the past has rarely been studied in a systematic manner. Methods In this study, a meta‐analysis of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios of post‐weaning children (PWC) in Holocene human populations around the world is presented. The isotope ratios of PWC were standardized with those of adult females and males in the same population, and they were analyzed in terms of the difference in subsistence. Results Results of this study indicate that diets of PWC and adults were generally similar (most differences were within the range of ±1‰), which is consistent with the universal feature of food provisioning to PWC in humans. In hunter—gatherer populations, there is no significant difference between PWC and adult isotope ratios. In non‐hunter—gatherer populations, however, PWC probably consumed significantly larger proportions of foods from lower trophic levels than did the adults, and such foods would be terrestrial C 3 plants. Conclusions Potential factors relating to the dietary differences among PWC and adults are presented from a perspective of balance between food provisioning and self‐acquisition by PWC. Significant isotopic differences between PWC and adults in non‐hunter—gatherer populations revealed in this study have implications for declined health during the subsistence transition in Holocene, isotopic studies using human tooth enamel, and “δ 15 N dip” of subadults after weaning.