Abstract

We present dietary reconstructions for seven coastal archaeological populations from Northeastern North America based upon stable isotopic ratios in human bone, including 13C/15C (collagen), 15N/14N (collagen) and 13C (apatite)/13C (collagen). These reconstructions are compared to others based largely upon faunal remains, but also upon palaeoenvironmental models. The populations range geographically from L'Anse Amour, Labrador, to Casco Bay, Maine, and in age from 7,500 B.P. to the early seventeenth century. Comparisons are made to Northeastern interior populations of comparable age. Our main goal is to estimate the importance of marine protein in the diets of these groups, and to use these estimates to assess current notions about maritime adaptations along the northwest Atlantic littoral. The relevance of these results for the ongoing discussion about postdepositional diagenesis of bone is considered.