The South American Archaeological Isotopic Database (SAAID) is a comprehensive open-access resource that aggregates all available bioarchaeological stable and radiogenic isotope measurements, encompassing data from human individuals, animals, and plants across South America. Resulting from a collaborative effort of scholars who work with stable isotopes in this region, SAAID contains 53,781 isotopic measurements across 24,507 entries from individuals/specimens spanning over 12,000 years. SAAID includes valuable contextual information on archaeological samples and respective sites, such as chronology, geographical region, biome, and spatial coordinates, biological details like estimated sex and age for human individuals, and taxonomic description for fauna and flora. SAAID is hosted at the PACHAMAMA community within the Pandora data platform and the CORA repository to facilitate easy access. Because of its rich data structure, SAAID is particularly well-suited for conducting spatiotemporal meta-analyses. It serves as a valuable tool for addressing a variety of research topics, including the spread, adoption, and consumption intensification of food items, paleo-environmental reconstruction, as well as the exploration of mobility patterns across extensive geographic regions.

• MeSH
• Archaeology * MeSH
• Ecosystem MeSH
• Isotopes * MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Dataset MeSH
• Geographicals
• South America MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Isotopes * MeSH

Three decades have passed since the publication in 1991 of the first use of stable isotope analysis applied to a Brazilian archaeological context. Despite being still mainly applied to palaeodietary research, stable isotope analysis in archaeology has been diversified in Brazil. In the last five years, an increasing number of studies has addressed various issues. Such issues are related to population mobility, social differentiation, health and children care, changes and resilience of cultural practices, and identification of the origin of enslaved populations brought by force from the African continent, among others. However, research in this area is still incipient when compared to the large territory of Brazil (WGS 84: -33˚ to 5°N, -73˚ to -34˚E), the diversity of socio-cultural contexts of pre-colonial and indigenous societies, and the country's historical formation process. In terms of radiocarbon dates, data are also sparse and lack essential information as the material used for dating, as this information could be related to necessary corrections, e.g., the marine reservoir effect. The first radiocarbon dates of Brazilian archaeological material are reported, however, since the 1950s and have been more frequently reported in publications across Brazil since the installation of the first Brazilian radiocarbon laboratory (CENA/USP) in 1990 and the first Latin American 14C-AMS facility (LAC-UFF) in 2012. Thus, the purpose of this compilation was to gather all dispersed, and often fragmented, data from analyses of stable and radioactive (focusing on radiocarbon) isotopes carried out in Brazilian archaeological contexts. We compiled data from 1991 until the end of November 2021. The data included here contain information from 71 archaeological sites, 556 humans, 219 animals and 2 plants. Isotopic analyses were performed on 832 organic samples, mainly paired δ13C and δ15N plus δ34S measurements, and on 265 mineral samples, mainly δ13C, δ18O and 86Sr/87Sr measurements. Sr concentrations for 49 mineral samples were also compiled. Radiocarbon or relative dates span from 18 kyr BP to the present. All data from this compilation are deposited in open access on the IsoArcH platform (https://doi.isoarch.eu/doi/2021.005). This extensive work aims to point out the gaps in stable isotopes and radiocarbon dates provided for Brazilian archaeological contexts that could be further explored. Besides, it aims to promote easy access to numerous analyses that, otherwise, would be hard to obtain. Lastly, it seeks to broaden the interdisciplinary collaboration in Brazil and strengthen the international collaboration among peers.

• Keywords
• Archaeology, Bioapatite, Brazil, Carbon, Collagen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Radiocarbon dating, Stable isotope analysis, Strontium,
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH