Domesticated landscapes of the neotropics: Isotope signatures of human-animal relationships in pre-Columbian Panama

• Published in: Journal of anthropological archaeology Vol. 59; p. 101195
• Main Authors: Sugiyama, Nawa, Martínez-Polanco, María Fernanda, France, Christine A.M., Cooke, Richard G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 01.09.2020
• Subjects: Animal management; Domestication; Garden hunting; Neotropics; Panama; Stable isotopes; White-tailed deer; Garden hunting; Stable isotopes; Panama; Animal management; Domestication; White-tailed deer; Neotropics
• ISSN: 0278-4165; 1090-2686
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2020.101195

•Domesticated landscapes better describe the mosaic nature of human control over the Neotropics.•A multi-proxy approach (botanical, faunal, and isotopic) can capture anthropogenic impact.•Household-level taming and capture recorded on Muscovy ducks, crested guan, and parrots in Panama.•Garden hunting was a sustained tactic that promoted human-animal co-habitation. Throughout the New World, we encounter consistent and pervasive evidence that confounds efforts to partition native species into watertight containers labeled “domesticated” and “wild.” This binary categorization cannot resolve the complex relations among modalities and intensities at which human activity influences the local flora and fauna. The concomitant fluctuations in cultural control over the ecosystem, duly reflected in the vegetation and the diet of the animals it nourished, are captured in this study of isotope variations representing the entire range of C3 to C4 resource acquisition patterns inferred from faunal remains from archaeological sites around Parita Bay in central Pacific Panama. Human feeding of captive bird species (e.g., ducks, guan, and parrots) and animal raiding of milpa plots are two good examples of the mutualistic co-habitation of humans and animals. This study utilizes the C4 input into an animal’s diet as a proxy, which, in tandem with inputs from paleobotany and zooarchaeology, greatly improve knowledge about human and animal interactions in tropical landscapes.