It has been suggested that some animals eaten by late prehistoric populations of eastern North America were pest species that consumed maize. This could lead to over-estimates of amounts of maize that were directly consumed in prehistoric human diets. Stable carbon- and nitrogen-isotope ratios of collagen from white-tailed deer and raccoon bones from the Late Archaic Indian Knoll and Middle Mississippian Angel sites are compared. The stable isotope ratios are used to determine the amount of maize, if any, in Middle Mississippian faunal diets. We find no evidence that deer or raccoon at the Angel site consumed maize.
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