Turkeys on the fringe: Variable husbandry in “marginal” areas of the prehistoric American Southwest

Abstract Previous research reporting stable carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) isotope values of prehistoric turkey ( Meleagris gallopavo ) remains from the American Southwest indicates that these birds were husbanded in consistent ways: the majority of samples suggest a diet dominated by maize, a domesticate that uses the C 4 photosynthetic pathway. However, most of these studies have focused on turkey remains from locations where maize would likely have been readily available. Here we present isotope and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotype data from turkey remains from the relatively high-elevation site of Tijeras Pueblo (LA 581), a location where maize production may have been marginal. The Tijeras Pueblo turkeys display a unique carbon isotope pattern in both bone collagen and bone apatite, with half the samples indicating a predominately C 3 diet (a signature characteristic of modern wild turkeys) and the other half predominately C 4 , even though the majority of samples belong to the Southwestern domestic turkey mtDNA lineage identified by Speller et al. (2010). Comparative collagen samples from the Albuquerque Basin and the Gallina region do not follow this pattern. Apatite-collagen δ 13 C spacing in the Tijeras turkeys suggests these birds were acquiring carbohydrates and protein from a mixture of C 3 - and C 4 -based resources. We propose that the C 3 Tijeras turkeys were free-ranged, and that the presence of two distinct turkey husbandry regimes at Tijeras Pueblo may reflect Tijeras' geographic location on a cultural boundary between the Plains and Pueblo regions.