SG SHERIDAN, Department of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN
DL JONES,  Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ

Trace elements analysis of human skeletal material has provided evidence concerning prehistoric diet, ancient subsistence strategies, as well as information about sex, age, and social differentiation.  This research was undertaken to reconstruct diet and status differences in a prehistoric Hohokam population from Pueblo Grande, Arizona.  The sample group consisted of 70 adults of both sexes, ranging in age from 18 to 50+ years.  Femoral samples, which were selected based on resistance to diagenetic changes (postdepositional alteration), were analyzed using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES).

Of the 28 elements analyzed in this study, the following produced significant results when comparing females and males: chromium (p=0.0016), magnesium (p=0.0089), barium (p=0.0164), strontium (p=0.0500), strontium/zinc (p=0.0168), and vanadium (p=0.0320).  With the exception of chromium, for which there is little information about dietary sources, these elements are found in greater concentrations in plant foods than in meats.  Females have higher concentrations in all five elements, suggesting a significantly greater consumption of plants by women than men in this population.  Conversely, while not statistically significant at p<0.05, zinc levels show a strong trend (p=0.055) towards higher meat consumption by the males.  The extensive archaeological evidence for this site further supports these findings.

Principle components analysis supports these assumptions about dietary differentiation between males and females, as well as providing insight into which elements are most susceptible to diagenetic change.  32.5% of all the variation in trace element concentrations in the bone material studied can be accounted for by differences between the sexes.  15.3% was accounted for by diagenesis.  The correlation between the Student's t-test data and the principle components analysis, supported by the archaeological record, suggests that trace element analysis of bone is a reliable method of reconstruction of prehistoric diet.