Ancient Filipino Diet Through Isotope Analysis
In celebration of Nutrition Month, we feature the diet of Philippine populations in the past as revealed by isotope analysis. What can we learn from these isotopes?
Food plays a major role in understanding how humans utilize environmental resources. The plant and meat resources in people’s diet tell about accessibility, subsistence strategies and techniques, seasonality of food sources, and also paint a picture of the past environment wherein these were available.
Though substantive in providing baseline information on the paleo diet, analysis of faunal and botanical remains from the archaeological context may be limited by preservation conditions. A study using stable isotopes (ẟ) was applied to select human remains recovered in Philippine archaeological sites to obtain direct information from the consumer and determine food resources in the past.
The protein component of the diet and the ecosystem from which their food belonged are reflected in the δ13C (Carbon 13 isotope) value, while the δ15N (Nitrogen 15 isotope) value is an indicator for trophic level (or the number of steps in the food chain relative to the plant/producer) at which food is positioned in the ecosystem.
The δ13C and δ15N analyses on 81 human skeletal remains from 6 burial sites revealed a largely terrestrial plant-based diet. Both terrestrial and aquatic proteins from either marine or riverine sources were consumed. Results from Batanes Site showed a diet more reliant on terrestrial meat and C3 plants (like potato, purple yam, garlic, yellow ginger, and beans) than marine resources. The protein resources in Lal-lo Site in Cagayan were more from a terrestrial-based ecosystem, while values from Santa Ana Site in Manila showed a heavy reliance on marine-based sources. Considering the topography of the Kabayan Site in Benguet, animals from the rivers and streams were the possible sources of protein and C3 plants. In the Romblon Site, results reflect a diet dependence on both terrestrial resources and marine ecosystems. On the other hand, values in Cebu Site show a significant difference with a heavy reliance on marine resources diets, probably due to accessibility.
Text by Ame Garong, and posters by Timothy James Vitales | NMP Archaeology Division
© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines
