scholarly journals Factors Influencing the Radiocarbon Dating of Human Skeletal Remains from the Dnieper River System: Archaeological and Stable Isotope Evidence of Diet from the Epipaleolithic to Eneolithic Periods

Radiocarbon ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 741-753 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm Lillie ◽  
Rowena Henderson ◽  
Chelsea Budd ◽  
Inna Potekhina
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Skeletal Remains ◽  
Resource Exploitation ◽  
Human Skeletal Remains ◽  
Freshwater Resource ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Fish Samples

AbstractRecent research has identified the existence of a freshwater reservoir effect influencing the radiocarbon dating of human skeletal remains from the Dnieper region of Ukraine (Lillie et al. 2009). The current study outlines the evidence for freshwater resource exploitation throughout the period ~10,200–3700 cal BC, and presents the available evidence for the existence of dietary offsets in the 14C dates obtained. We have obtained human skeletal material from 54 Epipaleolithic to Mesolithic period individuals and 267 Neolithic to Eneolithic individuals, from 13 cemeteries, since our research in Ukraine began in 1992. Here, we present the initial results of stable isotope analysis of Eneolithic individuals from the Igren VIII cemetery alongside the Epipaleolithic to Eneolithic samples that have previously been analyzed. When contrasted against the evidence from the prehistoric fauna and fish remains studied, and modern fish species from the Dnieper region, we continue to see variability in diets at the population level, both internally and across cemeteries. We also observed temporal variability in human diets across these chronological periods. The fish samples (both archaeological and modern) show a wide range of isotope ratios for both δ13C and δ15N, which could prove significant when interpreting the dietary sources being exploited. This information directly informs the 14C dating program as an inherent degree of complexity is introduced into the dating of individuals whose diets combine freshwater and terrestrial sources in differing quantities and at differing temporal and/or spatial scales (e.g. Bronk Ramsey et al. 2014).

scholarly journals Stable Isotope Analysis on Human Skeletal Remains from the Edo-period Fushimi Castle Site in Japan

2011 ◽  
Vol 119 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soichiro Kusaka ◽  
Takeyuki Ikarashi ◽  
Fujio Hyodo ◽  
Shiori Fujisawa ◽  
Kazumichi Katayama
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Stable Isotope Analysis ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Skeletal Remains ◽  
Edo Period ◽  
Human Skeletal Remains

scholarly journals Profiling of human burned bones: oxidising versus reducing conditions

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. P. M. Marques ◽  
D. Gonçalves ◽  
A. P. Mamede ◽  
T. Coutinho ◽  
E. Cunha ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Inelastic Neutron Scattering ◽  
Inelastic Neutron ◽  
Skeletal Remains ◽  
Anaerobic Conditions ◽  
Human Skeletal Remains ◽  
Human Bones ◽  
Reducing Conditions ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Burned Bones ◽  
Vibrational Bands

AbstractComplementary optical and neutron-based vibrational spectroscopy techniques (Infrared, Raman and inelastic neutron scattering) were applied to the study of human bones (femur and humerus) burned simultaneously under either aerobic or anaerobic conditions, in a wide range of temperatures (400 to 1000 °C). This is the first INS study of human skeletal remains heated in an oxygen-deprived atmosphere. Clear differences were observed between both types of samples, namely the absence of hydroxyapatite’s OH vibrational bands in bone burned anaerobically (in unsealed containers), coupled to the presence of cyanamide (NCNH2) and portlandite (Ca(OH)2) in these reductive conditions. These results are expected to allow a better understanding of the heat effect on bone´s constituents in distinct environmental settings, thus contributing for an accurate characterisation of both forensic and archaeological human skeletal remains found in distinct scenarios regarding oxygen availability.

Analysis of the Context and Contents of an Ulua-Style Marble Vase from the Palmarejo Valley, Honduras

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Christian Wells ◽  
Karla L. Davis-Salazar ◽  
José E. Moreno-Cortes ◽  
Glenn S. L. Stuart ◽  
Anna C. Novotny
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Stable Isotope Analysis ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Residential Group ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
Political Economic

Ulúa-style marble vases played important social, political, economic, and religious roles in southern Mesoamerica during the seventh through eleventh centuries A.D. However, most such vessels known to archaeologists are part of looted collections or else were unearthed before the advent of modern archaeological practices. As a result, little is known about the context, use, and chronology of these objects. Recent investigations at the site of Palos Blancos in northwest Honduras discovered an Ulúa-style marble vase in an undisturbed mortuary context. Excavation of the burial context, along with bioarchaeological and stable isotope analysis of the human remains, suggests that the vase was placed as an offering, possibly to an ancestor of the residential group. Phosphate and pollen studies indicate that the vase once held a corn-based beverage . Radiocarbon dating of four charcoal samples from immediately below and adjacent to the vase yielded a range of dates from the beginning of the Late Classic period, ca.A.D. 600-800. Through analyses of the context and contents of the vase, this research contributes to a more holistic understanding of the use and meaning of Ulúa-style marble vases in southern Mesoamerica.

Trophic relationships of the platypus: insights from stable isotope and cheek pouch dietary analyses

2016 ◽  
Vol 67 (8) ◽  
pp. 1196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Klamt ◽  
Jenny A. Davis ◽  
Ross M. Thompson ◽  
Richard Marchant ◽  
Tom R. Grant
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Stable Isotope Analysis ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Trophic Relationships ◽  
Cheek Pouch ◽  
Insect Larvae ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Δ13c And Δ15n ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Wide Range

The unique Australian monotreme, the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) potentially exerts a strong top-down influence on riverine food webs in eastern Australia. However, despite considerable interest in the evolutionary history and physiology of the platypus, little is known of its trophic relationships. To address this lack of knowledge we used stable isotope analysis, in combination with the analysis of food items stored in cheek pouches, to determine its position in a typical riverine food web. This was the essential first step in the process of designing a larger study to investigate the relative importance of top-down and bottom-up effects in rivers where the platypus occurs. We found that platypuses were feeding on a wide range of benthic invertebrates, particularly insect larvae. The similarity of δ13C and δ15N values recorded for the platypus, a native fish (Galaxias sp.) and the exotic mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) indicated dietary overlap and potential competition for the same resources. Although cheek pouch studies identify most of the major groups of prey organisms, the potential for contribution of the soft-bodied organisms such as larval dipterans, is suggested by stable isotope analysis, indicating that the use of both techniques will be important in future ecological investigations.

scholarly journals Quantifying Inter-Laboratory Variability in Stable Isotope Analysis of Ancient Skeletal Remains

PLoS ONE ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. e102844 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Pestle ◽  
Brooke E. Crowley ◽  
Matthew T. Weirauch
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Stable Isotope Analysis ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Skeletal Remains

The Coarse-Pounded Corn People

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin D. Gallivan ◽  
Victor D. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Late Woodland ◽  
Skeletal Remains ◽  
Spatial Practices ◽  
Native Communities ◽  
Late Woodland Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Burial Grounds ◽  
Chickahominy River

Chapter 5 focuses on archaeological investigations along the Chickahominy River and a history of residential settlements, subsistence practices, and burial grounds during the Middle to Late Woodland transition. In the sixth century A.D., Native communities living along the Chickahominy River began to bury the deceased in communal burial grounds (ossuaries) located in the drainage’s swampy interior. During the Late Woodland period, new places were established along the Chickahominy with the construction of dispersed farmsteads, burial grounds, and a palisaded compound. In this history of placemaking we see evidence of the spatial practices whereby forager-fishers became the Chickahominy. As is apparent from colonial accounts of the Chickahominy, the “coarse-pounded corn people,” a horticultural economy was a part of this ethnogenetic process. Bioarchaeological study of skeletal remains from the Chickahominy, including stable isotope analysis, provides a basis for considering the history of maize-based horticulture in the region.

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