Stable isotopes in human skeletons of Southern Ontario: reconstructing Palaeodiet

Most native plants of Ontario use the C3 photosynthetic mechanism and therefore have relatively low 13C12C ratios; maize is a C4 plant and is relatively enriched in 13C. The proportion of maize in the diet of a human can therefore be estimated from the 13C-content of collagen of fossil bone. We have used this method to follow the increase in consumption of maize in ancient native populations over the interval from AD 400 to 1650, and to …