article

Maize and the origin of Highland Chavín civilization: an isotopic perspective

American anthropologist • 92 (1) • Published In 1990 • Pages: 85-95

By: Burger, Richard L., Van der Merwe, Nikolaas J..

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document

Burger and van der Merwe use stable carbon isotope analysis of 5 individuals from Chavín de Huántar and 2 individuals from Huaricoto to determine the relative amount of maize consumption in the diet. Surprizingly, the consumption of maize did not significantly increase between the Urabarriu Phase and the Janabarriu Phase at Chavín de Huántar nor between the Preceramic and the Early Horizon at Huaricoto. The authors speculate the importance of maize cultivation would have been to produce CHICHA for consumption during religious rituals.

SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF

Laboratory analysis of materials other than dating methods in archaeology

Flora

Tillage

Cereal agriculture

Diet

traditionCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)

Chavín

HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document

2004

RegionThe area the document pertains to

South America

Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region

Central Andes

Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs

article

Evaluation

Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.

Archaeologist

Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.

4: Excellent Secondary Data

5: Excellent Primary Data

AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection

Sarah Berry ; 2003

Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document

no date

Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to

late Initial Period-Early Horizon; 2850 BP-2200 BP (850 B.C.-200 B.C)

Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)

central highlands; Peru

NotesAdditional notes

Richard L. Burger, Nikolaas J. van der Merwe

Includes bibliographical references (p. 93-95)

LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number

1715424

LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings

Chavín culture