RT Journal Article
T1 Dietary continuity and change at Panama Viejo from an interdisciplinary perspective, C. 600-1671
A1 Martín, Juan Guillermo
A1 Aceituno, Francisco Javier
A1 Rivera-Sandoval, Javier
A1 Knipper, Corina
A1 Hernández, Iosvany
A1 Aram, Bethany
K1 Panama Viejo
K1 Microbotany
K1 Bioanthropology
K1 Carbon
K1 Nitrogen
K1 Strontium
K1 Oxygen
K1 Isotope analysis
AB The study of food consumption during the colonial period in Panama Viejo traditionally has been based on chronicles and archival documentation. The present analysis reassesses the historical information about diet in this colonial enclave based on microbotanical, isotopic and bioanthropological evidence obtained from the excavations within and outside the remains of the old city¿s Cathedral in two locations and four chronological periods to complement and contrast written sources. The ensuing data sets, once integrated, point to the consumption of native plants, particularly maize, among people of different ancestral origins from the settlement¿s earliest years, as well as the consumption of wheat ¿ which could not be grown in the region ¿ plantains and rice, whose cultivation was introduced successfully. Stable isotope evidence indicates a shift from dietary strategies based on maize, seafood and terrestrial animal meat in pre-Hispanic and early colonial times to diets featuring more C3 plants, including rice, wheat, and plantains, as well beef and dairy products during the later colonial period. This gradual shift in dietary strategies appears among individuals of Indigenous American, African, European and mixed origins and ancestries, probably influenced by the nutritional and epidemiological stress registered in all of these populations.
PB Elsevier
SN 0278-4165
YR 2021
FD 2021-12
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10433/14681
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10433/14681
LA en
NO Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, volumen 64
NO Universidad del Norte, Colombia
NO Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia
NO Curt-Engelhorn Center for Archaeometry, Mannheim, Germany
DS RIO
RD May 23, 2026