Stable Isotope Analysis of the Archaic Windover Population's Diet (8BR246)

The Windover archaeological site (8BR246) is one of the few mass pre-historic burial sites in North America. The 168 skeletonized men, women, and children were interned in a peat bog accompanied by cultural materials such as bone and stone tools, textiles, flora, and fauna. This anerobic peat environment has functioned to slow the rate of decay and shelter the organic material; preserving the bone, stomach, and brain contents of the individuals for nearly 8,000 years, since the dawn of the Archaic. A δ13C‰ and δ15N‰ stable isotope analysis of 40 sampled male, female, and subadult femurs has facilitated the formulation of a dietary reconstruction for each of these age and sex cohorts. The supplementary file of the FSU Department of Anthropology’s Technical Analysis/Destructive Sampling Agreement form contains an inventory of the individuals sampled within this investigation. These dietary reconstructions, facilitated by δ13C‰ and δ15N‰ comparisons obtained from flora and fauna directly associated with the burials, are compared amongst the male, female, and subadult cohorts. These comparisons have functioned to provide insight into Windover’s subsistence practices and the dietary cultural practices of individuals of different ages and sexes. The causes of these dietary differences are examined through pathological data from Windover and ethnographies/dietary reconstructions of hunter-gatherer communities. This thesis draws upon the chemical structures of bones to gain knowledge of this long extinct society’s culture and customs.