GET OUT THE FINE CHINA: DIET RECONSTRUCTION AT THE OGDEN-FETTIE MOUND CENTER USING ISOTOPIC ANALYSIS

This project uses the ceramic collection gathered from Ogden-Fettie, which is a Middle Woodland Mound Group located in the Central Illinois Valley, to draw conclusions about the diet of prehistoric peoples inhabiting the site. The Middle Woodland diet is mainly understood through faunal and floral analysis of archaeological collections, but by using Isotopic Analysis to look at the stable isotopes of Carbon 13 and Nitrogen 15 it is possible to ascertain what types of foods were being cooked in ceramic vessels. The analysis was done on both Havana (secular) and Hopewell (ceremonial) ceramics from the Ogden-Fettie Mound Center.