scholarly journals Chemical profiling of ancient hearths reveals recurrent salmon use in Ice Age Beringia

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (35) ◽  
pp. 9757-9762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyungcheol Choy ◽  
Ben A. Potter ◽  
Holly J. McKinney ◽  
Joshua D. Reuther ◽  
Shiway W. Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Nitrogen Isotope ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Chemical Profiling ◽  
Strong Positive Relationship ◽  
Food Residues ◽  
Isotope Analyses

Current approaches to reconstruct subsistence and dietary trends in ancient hunter-gatherer societies include stable isotope analyses, but these have focused on human remains, cooking pottery, and food residues, which are relatively rare in the archaeological record. In contrast, short-term hearths are more ubiquitous worldwide, and these features can provide valuable evidence for ancient subsistence practices, particularly when faunal remains are not preserved. To test the suitability of hearths for this purpose, we conducted multiple chemical analyses: stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of total organic matter (expressed as δ13C and δ15N values) and compound-specific carbon isotope analyses of individual fatty acids (δ13C16:0 and δ13C18:0) from 17 well-preserved hearths present in three occupations dating between ∼13,200–11,500 calibrated years B.P. at the Upward Sun River (USR) site in central Alaska. We combined δ15N and δ13CFA data in a Bayesian mixing model (stable isotope analysis in R) with concentration dependency to each hearth. Our model values were tested against faunal indices, indicating a strong positive relationship between marine proportional contributions to each hearth and salmon abundance. Results of the models show substantial anadromous salmon use in multiple USR components, indicating recurrent use of the site for salmon processing during the terminal Pleistocene. Our results demonstrate that salmonid and freshwater resources were more important for late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers than previously thought and highlight the potential of chemical profiling of hearth organic residues for providing greater geographic and temporal insights into resource use by prepottery societies.

Early herding at Măgura-Boldul lui Moş Ivănuş (early sixth millennium BC, Romania): environments and seasonality from stable isotope analysis

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Balasse ◽  
Adrian Bălăşescu ◽  
Anneke Janzen ◽  
Joël Ughetto-Monfrin ◽  
Pavel Mirea ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Sequential Analysis ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Late Winter ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Agricultural Communities ◽  
Isotope Analyses

Stable isotope analyses were conducted on faunal remains from the site of Măgura-Boldul lui Moş Ivănuş with the objective of characterizing the environments and seasonality of husbandry in the earliest Neolithic (Gura Baciului-Cârcea/Starčevo-Criş I) of southern Romania. Results from bone collagen analysis indicate extensive herding strategies for cattle and pigs. However, sequential analysis in tooth enamel also provides evidence for winter leaf foddering in one bovine, potentially kept by the settlement over winter. In some instances, sheep were fed a13C-enriched resource in late winter, which may have also coincided with lactation. It could not be determined whether this contribution was from C3or C4plants. Although isolated, these findings may be important in evaluating how early agricultural communities dealt with environmental constraints. These results are also interpreted with reference to the models of intensive mixed farming systems recently proposed by Bogaard (2004) and Halstead (2006).

scholarly journals Ancient Beringian paleodiets revealed through multiproxy stable isotope analyses

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (36) ◽  
pp. eabc1968
Author(s):  
Carrin M. Halffman ◽  
Ben A. Potter ◽  
Holly J. McKinney ◽  
Takumi Tsutaya ◽  
Bruce P. Finney ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Native Americans ◽  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
Isotope Composition ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Nitrogen Isotope ◽  
Essential Amino Acids ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Carbon And Nitrogen ◽  
Isotope Analyses

The earliest Native Americans have often been portrayed as either megafaunal specialists or generalist foragers, but this debate cannot be resolved by studying the faunal record alone. Stable isotope analysis directly reveals the foods consumed by individuals. We present multi-tissue isotope analyses of two Ancient Beringian infants from the Upward Sun River site (USR), Alaska (~11,500 years ago). Models of fetal bone turnover combined with seasonally-sensitive taxa show that the carbon and nitrogen isotope composition of USR infant bone collagen reflects maternal diets over the summer. Using comparative faunal isotope data, we demonstrate that although terrestrial sources dominated maternal diets, salmon was also important, supported by carbon isotope analysis of essential amino acids and bone bioapatite. Tooth enamel samples indicate increased salmon use between spring and summer. Our results do not support either strictly megafaunal specialists or generalized foragers but indicate that Ancient Beringian diets were complex and seasonally structured.

New AMS Dates for Verteba Cave and Stable Isotope Evidence of Human Diet in The Holocene Forest-Steppe, Ukraine

Radiocarbon ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah H Ledogar ◽  
Jordan K Karsten ◽  
Gwyn D Madden ◽  
Ryan Schmidt ◽  
Mykhailo P Sokohatskyi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Nitrogen Isotope ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Terrestrial Plants ◽  
Discrete Events ◽  
Human Diet ◽  
Freshwater Reservoir

ABSTRACTExcavations at several locations in Verteba Cave have uncovered a large amount of human skeletal remains in association with faunal bones and Tripolye material culture. We aim to establish radiocarbon (14C) dates for eight sites and to evaluate whether these deposits are singular events, or slow accumulations over time.14C measurements, along with stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data from human and faunal remains, were collected from 18 specimens. Stable isotope values were used to evaluate human and animal diet, and whether freshwater reservoir effects offset measured dates. We found diets of the sampled species had limited to no influence from freshwater resources. Human diet appears to be dominated by terrestrial plants and herbivores. Four new sites were identified as Eneolithic. Comparisons of dates from top and bottom strata for two sites (7 and 20) reveal coeval dates, and we suggest that these deposits represent discrete events rather than slow continuous use. Lastly, we identified dates from the Mesolithic (8490±45 BP, 8765±30 BP), Iron Age (2505±20 BP), Slavic state era (1315±25 BP), and Medieval Period (585±15 BP), demonstrating periodic use of the cave by humans prior to and after the Eneolithic.

scholarly journals Interactions between earliest Linearbandkeramik farmers and central European hunter gatherers at the dawn of European Neolithization

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexey G. Nikitin ◽  
Peter Stadler ◽  
Nadezhda Kotova ◽  
Maria Teschler-Nicola ◽  
T. Douglas Price ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Nitrogen Isotope ◽  
Western Anatolia ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Central European ◽  
Carbon And Nitrogen ◽  
Farming Communities ◽  
Non Local ◽  
Range Of Variation

AbstractArchaeogenetic research over the last decade has demonstrated that European Neolithic farmers (ENFs) were descended primarily from Anatolian Neolithic farmers (ANFs). ENFs, including early Neolithic central European Linearbandkeramik (LBK) farming communities, also harbored ancestry from European Mesolithic hunter gatherers (WHGs) to varying extents, reflecting admixture between ENFs and WHGs. However, the timing and other details of this process are still imperfectly understood. In this report, we provide a bioarchaeological analysis of three individuals interred at the Brunn 2 site of the Brunn am Gebirge-Wolfholz archeological complex, one of the oldest LBK sites in central Europe. Two of the individuals had a mixture of WHG-related and ANF-related ancestry, one of them with approximately 50% of each, while the third individual had approximately all ANF-related ancestry. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios for all three individuals were within the range of variation reflecting diets of other Neolithic agrarian populations. Strontium isotope analysis revealed that the ~50% WHG-ANF individual was non-local to the Brunn 2 area. Overall, our data indicate interbreeding between incoming farmers, whose ancestors ultimately came from western Anatolia, and local HGs, starting within the first few generations of the arrival of the former in central Europe, as well as highlighting the integrative nature and composition of the early LBK communities.

Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of hunter–gatherers from the Coleman site, a Late Prehistoric cemetery in Central Texas

2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 1369-1381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond P. Mauldin ◽  
Robert J. Hard ◽  
Cynthia M. Munoz ◽  
Jennifer L.Z. Rice ◽  
Kirsten Verostick ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Stable Isotope Analysis ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Late Prehistoric ◽  
Nitrogen Stable Isotope ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Carbon And Nitrogen ◽  
Central Texas

scholarly journals Triple stable isotope analysis to estimate the diet of the Velvet Scoter (Melanitta fusca) in the Baltic Sea

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rasa Morkūnė ◽  
Jūratė Lesutienė ◽  
Julius Morkūnas ◽  
Rūta Barisevičiūtė
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Nitrogen Isotope ◽  
Enrichment Factors ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Sandy Bottom ◽  
Sulphur Isotope ◽  
Winter Diet ◽  
Melanitta Fusca

This study quantifies contributions of different food sources in the winter diet of the Velvet Scoter (Melanitta fusca) in coastal waters of the Lithuanian Baltic Sea using non-lethal avian sampling. We highlight the application of stable sulphur isotope ratios as complementary to stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis in order to discriminate sandy bottom macrozoobenthos organisms as potential food sources for the Velvet Scoter. Selection of the most relevant trophic enrichment factors and Monte Carlo simulations in order to choose the best fitted model were undertaken. The stable isotope mixing model revealed the main contributions of a group of bivalves, Mya arenaria and Cerastoderma glaucum, to be 46–54%, and while the crustacean, Saduria entomon, comprised 26–35% of the diet.

scholarly journals Interactions between earliest Linearbandkeramik farmers and central European hunter gatherers at the dawn of European Neolithization

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexey G. Nikitin ◽  
Peter Stadler ◽  
Nadezhda Kotova ◽  
Maria Teschler-Nicola ◽  
T. Douglas Price ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Nitrogen Isotope ◽  
Western Anatolia ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Central European ◽  
Carbon And Nitrogen ◽  
Farming Communities ◽  
Non Local ◽  
Range Of Variation

ABSTRACTArchaeogenetic research over the last decade has demonstrated that European Neolithic farmers (ENFs) were descended primarily from Anatolian Neolithic farmers (ANFs). ENFs, including early Neolithic central European Linearbandkeramik (LBK) farming communities, also harbored ancestry from European Mesolithic hunter gatherers (WHGs) to varying extents, reflecting admixture between ENFs and WHGs. However, the timing and other details of this process are still imperfectly understood. In this report, we provide a bioarchaeological analysis of three individuals interred at the Brunn 2 site of the Brunn am Gebirge-Wolfholz archeological complex, one of the oldest LBK sites in central Europe. Two of the individuals had a mixture of WHG-related and ANF-related ancestry, one of them with approximately 50% of each, while the third individual had approximately all ANF-related ancestry. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios for all three individuals were within the range of variation reflecting diets of other Neolithic agrarian populations. Strontium isotope analysis revealed that the ~50% WHG-ANF individual was non-local to the Brunn 2 area. Overall, our data indicate interbreeding between incoming farmers, whose ancestors ultimately came from western Anatolia, and local HGs, starting within the first few generations of the arrival of the former in central Europe, as well as highlighting the integrative nature and composition of the early LBK communities.

scholarly journals Reconstructing Herbivore Diets: A Multivariate Statistical Approach To Interpreting Compound-Specific Isotope Values

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mickey Hong Yi Chen ◽  
Iain P. Kendall ◽  
Richard P. Evershed ◽  
Amy Bogaard ◽  
Amy K. Styring
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Statistical Treatment ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Nitrogen Isotope ◽  
Multivariate Statistical ◽  
Sharp Separation ◽  
Statistical Framework ◽  
Multivariate Statistical Approach ◽  
Isotope Analyses

Abstract Stable nitrogen (N) isotope analysis of bulk tissues is a technique for reconstructing the diets of organisms. However, bulk nitrogen isotope (δ15N) values can be influenced by a variety of metabolic and environmental factors that can confound accurate dietary reconstruction. Compound-specific isotope analyses of amino acids (CSIA-AA) have demonstrated the power of the approach in understanding how the δ15N values of bulk collagen are assembled from the constituent AAs. Furthermore, by connecting these AA δ15N values within a robust biochemical framework interpretation of diet and environment are greatly enhanced. Several new proxies have emerged, built around selected AAs; however, the interconnectedness of AA biosynthetic pathways means that patterning of δ15N values across a wider suite of collagen AAs will occur under different environmental or dietary influences. This work seeks to test this idea by situating CSIA-AA within a robust statistical framework using principal component analysis (PCA) and Bayesian statistics to increase the interpretability of a wider range of AA δ15N values in terms of reconstructing herbivore diet. The model was tested using wild and domestic herbivores from the Neolithic settlements of Çatalhöyük (Turkey), Makriyalos (Greece), and Vaihingen (Germany) as case studies. It was found that at Makriyalos there was a sharp separation between domesticated and wild herbivores, which was present to a lesser extent at Çatalhöyük and not observed at Vaihingen. The case studies presented in this work demonstrate that multivariate statistical treatment of CSIA-AA data can deliver new insights into herbivore diet, exceeding those achievable with the Bayesian model.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document