scholarly journals Strategic and sporadic marine consumption at the onset of the Neolithic: increasing temporal resolution in the isotope evidence

Antiquity ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 87 (338) ◽  
pp. 1060-1072 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Montgomery ◽  
Julia Beaumont ◽  
Mandy Jay ◽  
Katie Keefe ◽  
Andrew R. Gledhill ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
General Pattern ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Cereal Crops ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
North West ◽  
Neolithic Transition ◽  
Isotope Evidence ◽  
Marine Food ◽  
Radical Shift

Stable isotope analysis has provided crucial new insights into dietary change at the Neolithic transition in north-west Europe, indicating an unexpectedly sudden and radical shift from marine to terrestrial resources in coastal and island locations. Investigations of early Neolithic skeletal material from Sumburgh on Shetland, at the far-flung margins of the Neolithic world, suggest that this general pattern may mask significant subtle detail. Analysis of juvenile dentine reveals the consumption of marine foods on an occasional basis. This suggests that marine foods may have been consumed as a crucial supplementary resource in times of famine, when the newly introduced cereal crops failed to cope with the demanding climate of Shetland. This isotopic evidence is consistent with the presence of marine food debris in contemporary middens. The occasional and contingent nature of marine food consumption underlines how, even on Shetland, the shift from marine to terrestrial diet was a key element in the Neolithic transition.

scholarly journals Stable Isotope Palaeodietary and Radiocarbon Evidence from the Early Neolithic Site of Zemunica, Dalmatia, Croatia

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Guiry ◽  
Ivor Karavanić ◽  
Rajna Šošić Klindžić ◽  
Sahra Talamo ◽  
Siniša Radović ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Adriatic Sea ◽  
Near East ◽  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Neolithic Transition ◽  
Adriatic Coast ◽  
Isotope Evidence ◽  
Main Protein ◽  
Spread Of Agriculture

The Adriatic Sea and Balkan Peninsula were an important corridor for the spread of agriculture northwards and westwards from the Near East into Europe. Therefore, the pace and nature of the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition along the Adriatic coastline has important implications for the movement of new peoples and/or ideas during one of the most eventful periods in European prehistory. We present new Early Neolithic radiocarbon and stable isotope evidence from humans and animals from the Zemunica cave site in Dalmatia, Croatia. The results show that these humans date to the earliest Neolithic in the region, and they have completely terrestrial diets, where the main protein source was most likely to have come from domesticated animals. Data are then compared to previous isotope and archaeological evidence to explore models for the spread of agriculture along the eastern Adriatic coast.

scholarly journals Shifting weaning practices in Early Neolithic Cis-Baikal, Siberia: New insights from stable isotope analysis of molar micro-samples

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 579-598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Scharlotta ◽  
Gwenaëlle Goude ◽  
Estelle Herrscher ◽  
Vladimir I. Bazaliiskii ◽  
Andrzej W. Weber
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Stable Isotope Analysis ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Early Neolithic

Application of nitrogen stable isotope analysis in size-based marine food web and macroecological research

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 1673-1680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Jennings ◽  
Carolyn Barnes ◽  
Christopher J. Sweeting ◽  
Nicholas V. C. Polunin
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Food Web ◽  
Stable Isotope Analysis ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Nitrogen Stable Isotope ◽  
Marine Food Web ◽  
Marine Food

scholarly journals Is the Mesolithic–Neolithic Subsistence Dichotomy Real? New Stable Isotope Evidence from the Danube Gorges

2004 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dušan Borić ◽  
Gisela Grupe ◽  
Joris Peters ◽  
Živko Mikić
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Stable Isotope Analyses ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Human Bones ◽  
Isotopic Studies ◽  
Isotope Evidence ◽  
Human Burials ◽  
Isotope Analyses

The article presents new results of stable isotope analyses made on animal and human bones from the Mesolithic–early Neolithic sites of Lepenski Vir and Vlasac in the Danube Gorges of the Balkans. It reconstructs the food web for the region during these periods on the basis of stable isotope analyses of mammal and fish species found at Vlasac. These results are compared to measurements made on human burials from the two sites. In the light of these new results, the article also discusses interpretations provided by previous isotopic studies of this material. It concludes that great care is required in the interpretation of stable isotope results due to inherent methodological complexities of this type of analysis, and suggests that it is also necessary to integrate stable isotope results with information based on the examination of faunal remains and the archaeological context of analysed burials when making inferences about palaeodietary patterns.

Early Neolithic diet and animal husbandry: stable isotope evidence from three Linearbandkeramik (LBK) sites in Central Germany

2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicky M. Oelze ◽  
Angelina Siebert ◽  
Nicole Nicklisch ◽  
Harald Meller ◽  
Veit Dresely ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Central Germany ◽  
Isotope Evidence

Tracing carbon flow in an arctic marine food web using fatty acid-stable isotope analysis

Oecologia ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 157 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Budge ◽  
M. J. Wooller ◽  
A. M. Springer ◽  
S. J. Iverson ◽  
C. P. McRoy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acid ◽  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Food Web ◽  
Stable Isotope Analysis ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Carbon Flow ◽  
Marine Food Web ◽  
Marine Food ◽  
Acid Stable

scholarly journals Bone stable isotope evidence for infant feeding in Mediaeval England

Antiquity ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 76 (293) ◽  
pp. 654-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.A. Mays ◽  
M.P. Richards ◽  
B.T. Fuller
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotopes ◽  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Infant Feeding ◽  
Stable Isotope Analysis ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Nitrogen Stable Isotope ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Isotope Evidence ◽  
Duration Of Breastfeeding

This paper is a first study of duration of breastfeeding using bone stable isotopes in infants in a British palaeopopulation, from the deserted Mediaeval village of Wharram Percy, England. Nitrogen stable isotope analysis suggests cessation of breastfeeding between 1 and 2 years of age. Comparison with Mediaeval documentary sources suggests that recommendations of physicians regarding infant feeding may have influenced common practice in this period.

scholarly journals Neolithic Farming and Wild Plant Exploitation in Western Britain: Archaeobotanical and Crop Stable Isotope Evidence from Wales (c. 4000–2200 cal bc)

2019 ◽  
Vol 85 ◽  
pp. 193-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward R. Treasure ◽  
Darren R. Gröcke ◽  
Astrid E. Caseldine ◽  
Mike J. Church
Keyword(s):  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Nitrogen Isotope ◽  
Wild Plants ◽  
Wild Plant ◽  
Neolithic Period ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
North West ◽  
Wild Fruits ◽  
Cereal Grain ◽  
Plant Exploitation

The introduction of agriculture is a key defining element of the Neolithic, yet considerable debate persists concerning the nature and significance of early farming practices in north-west Europe. This paper reviews archaeobotanical evidence from 95 Neolithic sites (c. 4000–2200 cal bc) in Wales, focusing on wild plant exploitation, the range of crops present, and the significance of cereals in subsistence practices. Cereal cultivation practices in Early Neolithic Wales are also examined using cereal grain stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope analysis. The Early Neolithic period witnessed the widespread uptake of cereals alongside considerable evidence for continued wild plant exploitation, notably hazelnuts and wild fruits. The possibility that wild plants and woodlands were deliberately managed or altered to promote the growth of certain plants is outlined. Small cereal grain assemblages, with little evidence for chaff and weed seeds, are common in the Early Neolithic, whereas cereal-rich sites are rare. Emmer wheat was the dominant crop in the Early Neolithic, while other cereal types were recorded in small quantities. Cereal nitrogen isotope (δ15N) values from Early Neolithic sites provided little evidence for intensive manuring. We suggest that cultivation conditions may have been less intensive when compared to other areas of Britain and Europe. In the later Neolithic period, there is evidence for a decline in the importance of cereals. Finally, the archaeobotanical and crop isotope data from this study are considered within a wider European context.

Moving on: the contribution of isotope studies to the early Neolithic of Central Europe

Antiquity ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 81 (314) ◽  
pp. 1029-1041 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penny Bickle ◽  
Daniela Hofmann
Keyword(s):  
Mapping Population ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Social Strategies ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Neolithic Transition ◽  
South West ◽  
Economic Strategies ◽  
Isotope Studies

Stable isotope analysis is a new, not-so-secret weapon which promises much in mapping population movement on a regional and local scale. Lining up these movements with certain economic strategies, such as farming or foraging, with social strategies such as exogamy or with ethnicity and ranking constitutes forgivable temptation. Here our astute authors urge caution. Taking the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in south-west Germany as their example, they show that caution does not inhibit interpretation, but opens the door to more subtle, more human possibilities.

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