Direct detection of maize in pottery residues via compound specific stable carbon isotope analysis

Discovering what was cooked in a pot by identifying lipids trapped in the potsherds has been a highly successful method developed in recent years. Here the authors identify a compound which shows the pots had been used to process maize – probably the most important foodstuff in later prehistoric Nor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Antiquity 2004-09, Vol.78 (301), p.682-691
Main Authors: Reber, Eleanora A., Dudd, Stephanie N., van der Merwe, Nikolaas J., Evershed, Richard P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
America and Arctic regions
Archaeology
By-products
Ceramic cultures
Ceramics
Corn
Crop residues
Diet
Environmental studies
Evaluation
Excavation and methods
extraction
Flora
Influence
Keywords
Laboratory methods
lipid
Lipids
Maize
Method
Methodology and general studies
North America
Nutrition
Physical and chemical analysis
Pottery
Prehistoric era
Prehistory and protohistory
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Summary:Discovering what was cooked in a pot by identifying lipids trapped in the potsherds has been a highly successful method developed in recent years. Here the authors identify a compound which shows the pots had been used to process maize – probably the most important foodstuff in later prehistoric North America. The uptake of maize is confirmed as coincident with the Mississippian fluorescence.
ISSN:0003-598X
1745-1744
DOI:10.1017/S0003598X00113316