Sulfur isotopes as a proxy for human diet and mobility from the preclassic through colonial periods in the Eastern Maya lowlands.

Maya archaeologists have long been interested in understanding ancient diets because they provide information about broad-scale economic and societal transformations. Though paleodietary studies have primarily relied on stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopic analyses of human bone collagen to document the types of food people consumed, stable sulfur (δ34S) isotope analysis can potentially provide valuable data to identify terrestrial, freshwater, or marine/coastal food sources, as well as determine human mobility and migration patterns. Here we assess applications of δ34S for investigating Maya diet and migration through stable isotope analyses of human bone collagen (δ13C, δ15N, and δ34S) from 114 individuals from 12 sites in the Eastern Maya lowlands, temporally spanning from the Late Preclassic (300 BCE-300 CE) through Colonial periods (1520-1800 CE).

Place of origin of the sacrificial victims in the sacred Cenote, Chichén Itzá, Mexico.

Objectives: The ancient city of Chichén Itzá in the northern Yucatán of Mexico was one of the most important in the Maya area, but its origins and history are poorly understood. A major question concerns the origins of the peoples who founded and later expanded the ancient city. Hundreds of people were ritually executed and their bodies thrown into the waters of the Sacred Cenote at Chichén.