@article{1e6caef512444872a60cd4dfc4bd37f0,
title = "Diet of the prehistoric population of Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile) shows environmental adaptation and resilience",
abstract = "Objectives: The Rapa Nui “ecocide” narrative questions whether the prehistoric population caused an avoidable ecological disaster through rapid deforestation and over-exploitation of natural resources. The objective of this study was to characterize prehistoric human diets to shed light on human adaptability and land use in an island environment with limited resources. Materials and methods: Materials for this study included human, faunal, and botanical remains from the archaeological sites Anakena and Ahu Tepeu on Rapa Nui, dating from c. 1400 AD to the historic period, and modern reference material. We used bulk carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses and amino acid compound specific isotope analyses (AA-CSIA) of collagen isolated from prehistoric human and faunal bone, to assess the use of marine versus terrestrial resources and to investigate the underlying baseline values. Similar isotope analyses of archaeological and modern botanical and marine samples were used to characterize the local environment. Results: Results of carbon and nitrogen AA-CSIA independently show that around half the protein in diets from the humans measured came from marine sources; markedly higher than previous estimates. We also observed higher δ15N values in human collagen than could be expected from the local environment. Discussion: Our results suggest highly elevated δ15N values could only have come from consumption of crops grown in substantially manipulated soils. These findings strongly suggest that the prehistoric population adapted and exhibited astute environmental awareness in a harsh environment with nutrient poor soils. Our results also have implications for evaluating marine reservoir corrections of radiocarbon dates.",
keywords = "amino acids, compound specific isotope analysis, ecology, radiocarbon, stable isotopes",
author = "Jarman, {Catrine L.} and Thomas Larsen and Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo and Reidar Solsvik and Natalie Wallsgrove and Cassie Ka'apu-Lyons and Close, {Hilary G.} and Popp, {Brian N.}",
note = "Funding Information: We thank Jim Ehleringer, Thure Cerling, John M. Hayes and Alex Bentley for comments on an early draft of the paper, and to Janet Becker for assistance with error propagation calculations. We also thank Natasha Vokhshoori for her help analyzing the food samples and Oliver A. Chadwick, Peter M. Vitousek, and Katalyn Voss for providing soils samples from Anamarama. This research was partly funded by National Science Foundation Grant EF-1137336 (to JR Ehleringer, TE Cerling, GJ Bowen, CC Miller and EM Riggs) through a Research in Residence Fellowship to CLJ at the University of Hawaii. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Additional funding for analytical costs was provided by a research grant to CLJ from the Kon-Tiki Museum. CLJ would like to thank the Society for American Archaeology, whose 2015 Student Award donations included the 14C AMS dates from the Center for Applied Isotope Studies at the University of Georgia used in this study. The research was carried out while CLJ was supported by an Arts and Humanities Research Council PhD studentship (Award AH/K502947/1) at the University of Bristol. Funding for TL and analytical costs of food samples was provided by the DFG supported ?The Future Ocean?. CLJ and BNP conceived and planned the project and measured the isotopic composition of human, faunal and totora reed samples. TL performed carbon isotope analyses of plant food samples and performed statistical analysis of data. TH, CL and RS provided archaeological samples and soils and contributed to data interpretation. NJW and CK-L provided laboratory support and training in amino acid compound specific isotopic analyses, and NJW, CK-L and HGC assisted CLJ with amino acid isotope sample analysis and contributed to data interpretation. CLJ and BNP wrote the manuscript and all authors revised and approved it. This is SOEST contribution number 10052. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.",
year = "2017",
month = oct,
doi = "10.1002/ajpa.23273",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "164",
pages = "343--361",
journal = "American Journal of Physical Anthropology",
issn = "0002-9483",
publisher = "Wiley-Liss Inc.",
number = "2",
}