Isotopic evidence for Maya patterns of deer and dog use at Preclassic Colha (Belize)

Based on our assessment of human exploitation of animals in the New World, we propose that one criterion for domestication should be dependence on hum ans for food, a trait that we test through isotopic analysis of faunal rema ins. Stable carbon- and nitrogen-isotope compositions of bone collagen have been analysed for 24 dogs and 16 deer found in well-dated contexts from th e prehistoric Maya lithic manufacturing community of Colha, Belize. The sam ple spans the Early Middle Preclassic period beginning 1000-600BC to the Te rminal Late Preclassic period ending around AD250. The majority of both dog s and deer come from middens, but three dogs come from cache contexts in bu ildings. The degree to which humans controlled the diets of these animals v aries markedly by context and time period. The diets of midden dogs demonst rate a significant increase in the amount of C-4(maize-based) foods and bec ome more herbivorous over time. Because the midden dogs were probably depen dent scavengers, this phenomenon might reflect the dynamics of human dietar y change as the population at Colha expanded towards the end of the Preclas sic period. An increase in the homogeneity of dog diets might also be indic ative of either more restrictive human control over the animals or a reduct ion in the variability of resources used by humans. Alternatively, because the structure associated with the midden in which the dogs were found becam e more ceremonial in Late Preclassic times, the dogs from this period could be reflecting a general increase in purposeful feeding for ceremonial purp oses. Dogs found in special (i.e. non-midden) contexts from both the Late M iddle Preclassic and Late Late to Terminal Late Preclassic periods have dis tinctive isotopic signatures that strongly suggest a more specific occurren ce of purposeful maize feeding. Evidence is provided from ethnohistory and Maya mythology that may explain their distinctive mortuary and feeding beha viour. We infer that all of the deer in the Preclassic period contexts at C olha were wild and procured by hunting because they consumed a herbivorous C-3 diet. Copyright 2001 Academic Press