Potential Freshwater Reservoir Effects in a Neolithic Shell Midden at Riņņkalns, Latvia

Radiocarbon ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (02) ◽  
pp. 823-832
Author(s):  
John Meadows ◽  
Harald Lübke ◽  
Ilga Zagorska ◽  
Valdis Berziņš ◽  
Aija Ceriņa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Freshwater Mussel ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Shell Midden ◽  
Hunting And Gathering ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Essential Parameter ◽  
Aquatic Food ◽  
Mussel Shells ◽  
Freshwater Reservoir ◽  
Reservoir Age

Riņņukalns is the only known prehistoric shell midden in the eastern Baltic, and is one of the few middens in northern Europe consisting mainly of freshwater mussel shells. Situated on the Salaca River at the outlet of Lake Burtnieks, in northeastern Latvia, the site was originally excavated in the 1870s, and reinvestigated several times over the following decades. A new excavation in 2011 showed that part of the midden remained intact. The new exposure, dated to the later 4th millennium cal BC, yielded rich fishbone and mollusk shell assemblages, herbivore, human and bird bones, and a wide range of artifacts typical of a subsistence economy based on fishing, hunting, and gathering. Human remains from burials excavated in the 1870s were also located in archives. The co-occurrence at Riņņukalns of human remains with a broad range of terrestrial and aquatic food remains provides an ideal setting to study freshwater reservoir effects and other isotopic signals of diet and mobility. The extent of14C depletion in local freshwater resources is an essential parameter for such studies; on the basis of14C ages of modern and paleoenvironmental samples, we estimate that the applicable reservoir age in Lake Burtnieks is in the order of 800–90014C yr.

Potential Freshwater Reservoir Effects in a Neolithic Shell Midden at Riņņkalns, Latvia

Radiocarbon ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 823-832 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Meadows ◽  
Harald Lübke ◽  
Ilga Zagorska ◽  
Valdis Berziņš ◽  
Aija Ceriņa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Freshwater Mussel ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Shell Midden ◽  
Hunting And Gathering ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Essential Parameter ◽  
Aquatic Food ◽  
Mussel Shells ◽  
Freshwater Reservoir ◽  
Reservoir Age

Riņņukalns is the only known prehistoric shell midden in the eastern Baltic, and is one of the few middens in northern Europe consisting mainly of freshwater mussel shells. Situated on the Salaca River at the outlet of Lake Burtnieks, in northeastern Latvia, the site was originally excavated in the 1870s, and reinvestigated several times over the following decades. A new excavation in 2011 showed that part of the midden remained intact. The new exposure, dated to the later 4th millennium cal BC, yielded rich fishbone and mollusk shell assemblages, herbivore, human and bird bones, and a wide range of artifacts typical of a subsistence economy based on fishing, hunting, and gathering. Human remains from burials excavated in the 1870s were also located in archives. The co-occurrence at Riņņukalns of human remains with a broad range of terrestrial and aquatic food remains provides an ideal setting to study freshwater reservoir effects and other isotopic signals of diet and mobility. The extent of 14C depletion in local freshwater resources is an essential parameter for such studies; on the basis of 14C ages of modern and paleoenvironmental samples, we estimate that the applicable reservoir age in Lake Burtnieks is in the order of 800–900 14C yr.

scholarly journals A Revised Radiocarbon Chronology of the Aceramic Shell Midden of Ra’s Al-Hamra 6 (Muscat, Sultanate of Oman): Implication For Occupational Sequence, Marine Reservoir Age, and Human Mobility

Radiocarbon ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 383-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoine Zazzo ◽  
Olivia Munoz ◽  
Emilie Badel ◽  
Irène Béguier ◽  
Francesco Genchi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Mobility ◽  
Human Bone ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Sultanate Of Oman ◽  
Shell Midden ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Entire Sequence ◽  
Radiocarbon Chronology ◽  
Reservoir Age ◽  
Bone Apatite

AbstractRa’s al-Hamra 6 (RH-6) is one of the earliest stratified archaeological sites along the eastern littoral of the Arabian Peninsula. This shell midden was radiocarbon dated to the 6th–5th millennium cal BC, but the majority of the dates were obtained before the advent of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dating and suffer from large uncertainties. In addition, most of these dates were obtained on marine and mangrove shells and required correction for local variations from the global average marine 14C reservoir age (MRA). This proved difficult because no consensus value exists for this period in the area. Recent excavations at RH-6 offered the opportunity to redate this important site in order to precisely determine its occupation history and later use as a graveyard, and establish the marine reservoir effect for this time period. Thirty-eight samples of charcoal, shells, and human bone apatite were selected for 14C dating. Bayesian modeling of the 14C dates suggests that the formation of the shell midden spanned ~1 millennium, between the mid-6th and the mid-5th millennium cal BC. Positive and consistent ΔR values were calculated throughout the entire sequence, ranging from 99±27 to 207±43 14C yr. At the beginning of the 4th millennium cal BC, RH-6 was used as a graveyard, as suggested by the 14C dating of a shell in strict association with an individual buried at the surface of the site. 14C dating of human bone apatite allowed us to calculate that 89% of this individual’s diet derived from marine resources. This finding confirms previous observations showing the overwhelming presence of marine and mangrove-dwelling species in the faunal and charcoal assemblage, and implies a low mobility, or mobility restricted to the coast for this population during the 4th millennium cal BC.

Freshwater mussel shells (Unionidae) describe anthropogenic changes to trace element cycling within a North American river

2018 ◽  
Vol 616-617 ◽  
pp. 1066-1076 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Aaron Wilson ◽  
Andrea K. Fritts ◽  
Mark W. Fritts ◽  
Jason M. Unrine ◽  
Brent N. Tweedy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Trace Element ◽  
North American ◽  
Freshwater Mussel ◽  
Element Cycling ◽  
Anthropogenic Changes ◽  
American River ◽  
Mussel Shells

scholarly journals Freshwater Reservoir Effect Variability in Northern Germany

Radiocarbon ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 1085-1101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bente Philippsen ◽  
Jan Heinemeier
Keyword(s):  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Potential Problem ◽  
Northern Germany ◽  
Reservoir Effect ◽  
The Past ◽  
Human Bones ◽  
Age Correction ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Freshwater Reservoir ◽  
Reservoir Age

The freshwater reservoir effect is a potential problem when radiocarbon dating fish bones, shells, human bones, or food crusts on pottery from sites near rivers or lakes. The reservoir age in hardwater rivers can be up to several thousand years and may be highly variable. Accurate 14C dating of freshwater-based samples requires knowing the order of magnitude of the reservoir effect and its degree of variability. Measurements on modern riverine materials may not give a single reservoir age correction that can be applied to archaeological samples, but they show the order of magnitude and variability that can also be expected for the past. This knowledge will be applied to the dating of food crusts on pottery from the Mesolithic sites Kayhude at the Alster River and Schlamersdorf at the Trave River, both in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany.

scholarly journals An insight into the structure, composition and hardness of a biological material: the shell of freshwater mussels

RSC Advances ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (49) ◽  
pp. 29543-29554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anupam Chakraborty ◽  
Saida Parveen ◽  
Dipak Kr. Chanda ◽  
Gautam Aditya
Keyword(s):  
Biological Material ◽  
Freshwater Mussels ◽  
Freshwater Mussel ◽  
Mussel Shells ◽  
Insight Into

Freshwater mussel shells: prospects as multifunctional biological material.

X-ray Fluorescence Analysis of Trace Metals in the Annual Growth Layers of Freshwater Mussel Shells

1989 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 665-670
Author(s):  
William E. Maddox ◽  
Leon Duobinis-Gray ◽  
David A. Owen ◽  
James B. Sickel
Keyword(s):  
Trace Metals ◽  
Metal Pollution ◽  
Freshwater Mussels ◽  
Freshwater Mussel ◽  
Fluorescence Analysis ◽  
Annual Growth ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Filter Feeders ◽  
Mussel Shells

Freshwater mussels (Mollusca: Unionidae) are filter feeders that are relatively immobile, widely distributed and are known to concentrate trace metals in their shells (1,2,3). These characteristics make them good candidates for monitoring metal pollution in lakes and rivers. Another characteristic of mussels that make them particularly attractive as pollution monitors is the fact the shell is deposited in distinctive, annual growth layers. The concentrations of metals in these shell layers may provide a history ol the metals present in the environment where the mussel was collected.

scholarly journals Mussels and Local Conditions Interact to Influence Microbial Communities in Mussel Beds

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Higgins ◽  
Thomas B. Parr ◽  
Caryn C. Vaughn
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Community ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Microbial Community Composition ◽  
Canopy Cover ◽  
Freshwater Mussel ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Individual Organism ◽  
Mussel Shells ◽  
Landscape Scales ◽  
And Function

Microbiomes are increasingly recognized as widespread regulators of function from individual organism to ecosystem scales. However, the manner in which animals influence the structure and function of environmental microbiomes has received considerably less attention. Using a comparative field study, we investigated the relationship between freshwater mussel microbiomes and environmental microbiomes. We used two focal species of unionid mussels, Amblema plicata and Actinonaias ligamentina, with distinct behavioral and physiological characteristics. Mussel microbiomes, those of the shell and biodeposits, were less diverse than both surface and subsurface sediment microbiomes. Mussel abundance was a significant predictor of sediment microbial community composition, but mussel species richness was not. Our data suggest that local habitat conditions which change dynamically along streams, such as discharge, water turnover, and canopy cover, work in tandem to influence environmental microbial community assemblages at discreet rather than landscape scales. Further, mussel burrowing activity and mussel shells may provide habitat for microbial communities critical to nutrient cycling in these systems.

scholarly journals Microalgal applications in bioindustry

2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Susan Blackburn
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Primary Productivity ◽  
Renewable Resource ◽  
Arthrospira Platensis ◽  
Bioactive Molecules ◽  
Aquatic Environments ◽  
Blue Green Alga ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The World ◽  
Aquatic Food

Microalgae are microscopic plants inhabiting the world?s oceans and other aquatic environments. They are critical for the health of the planet, being responsible for at least half of the global primary productivity. Like other photosynthetic (autotrophs) organisms, microalgae capture solar radiation and convert it to chemical energy as biomass, forming the basis of aquatic food webs, fixing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen as part of the process. Other microalgae (heterotrophs) can utilise organic compounds for growth. As single-celled packages of bioactive molecules that can be cultured to produce high levels of biomass, microalgae are a renewable resource with a wide range of applications in bioindustry. Their use is established in the human nutraceutical industry with ?super foods? such as Spirulina from the cyanobacterium (blue green alga) Arthrospira platensis (Figure 1). Intense interest surrounds the development of microalgae as a source of biofuels, and in the mitigation of CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHG). Other bioactive compounds, as well as genes from microalgae, offer new opportunities for bioindustry.

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