Aproximación isotópica a las prácticas de lactancia y destete en tres sitios prehispánicos de Panamá

Research on breastfeeding and weaning practices has great potential in bioarchaeology, as it not only enables the analysis of cross-cultural diversity in these childrearing practices among different populations but also provides insights into how various factors—such as biological, sociocultural, environmental, demographic, and economic—affect these processes. This work represents the first study on infant feeding in pre-Hispanic populations of Panama. The sample includes 44 non-adult individuals aged 0 to 9 years and 18 adult individuals from three archaeological sites in central Panama: Cerro Mangote, Sitio Sierra, and Cerro Juan Díaz, corresponding to the Early, Middle, and Late Ceramic periods. To analyze aspects related to infant feeding, stable of nitrogen (δ15N) and carbon (δ13C) were measured from bone collagen. δ15N data were analyzed using the Bayesian WARN method (Weaning Age Reconstruction using Nitrogen Isotope Analysis [R Package]) to estimate the start and end of weaning. Additionally, δ13C values were assessed to identify complementary foods and dietary variations between children and adults. The results indicate that the introduction of complementary foods occurred before six months of age, marking an early onset of the weaning process. However, the overall duration of the weaning process varied over time, with differences observed across chronological phases, ranging from 3 to 3.9 years. These early weaning practices may have shortened birth intervals and contributed to population growth during the periods associated with these archaeological contexts.