Nature 292, 536 - 538 (06 August 1981); doi:10.1038/292536a0

Isotopic evidence for prehistoric subsistence change at Parmana, Venezuela

Nikolaas J. van der Merwe^*, Anna Curtenius Roosevelt^† & J. C. Vogel^‡

^*Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7700, South Africa
^†Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation New York, New York 10032, USA
^‡National Physical Research Laboratory, PO Box 395, Pretoria 0001, South Africa

Recent archaeological results from Parmana, Venezuela, suggest that maize became a staple along the Orinoco River between about 800 BC and AD 400, contrary to prevailing views that maize was not important in prehistoric Amazonia. In maize, carbon dioxide is initially fixed as a C₄ carboxylic acid, rather than as phosphoglyceric acid as in C₃ plants. The organic carbon constituents of C₄ plants have a different ¹³C/¹²C ratio from C₃ plants, and this difference is transmitted to animals dependent on maize as a major carbon source. Thus, the ¹³C/¹²C ratio of animal remains is a reflection of their diet. Stable carbon isotope measurements on human skeletons from Parmana reported here show that a dramatic shift in the prehistoric diet from dependence on C₃ plants to C₄ plants (which include maize) did take place.

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