Paleodiet of Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) in the Early Pueblo Period of the Northern Southwest

Abstract

Turkey domestication in the northern Southwest is not clearly defined, in part because wild turkeys are difficult to differentiate from domestic turkeys based on skeletal morphology. Stable isotope analysis is a method that researchers have used extensively to help build a picture of how turkey populations were managed by humans. Earlier evidence for C4 plant consumption by turkeys is limited to a small number of published studies. Using a stable isotope mixing model with a sample of 19 turkey bones from five early Pueblo habitation sites in northwestern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado, we estimated that the turkey diet consisted of 60–89% C4 plants, with the remainder consisting of C3 plants and invertebrates. This contributes to the existing body of data on turkey diet in the northern Southwest during the Basketmaker III and Pueblo I periods and shows that a mixing model can be useful for turkey paleodietary analysis.