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.

Use of Stable Isotope Analysis to Reveal Relationships between Diet and Tooth Ablation Types in Jomon Period Japan

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soichiro Kusaka
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Stable Isotope Analysis ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Stable Isotope Ratios ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Important Evidence ◽  
Lower Incisors

This chapter discusses the practice of ritual tooth ablation in Japan in relation to diet and migration. Ablation was practiced extensively among hunter-gatherers, and the tradition typically followed one of two patterns, type 4I and type 2C, depending on whether the lower incisors or canines were extracted, respectively. To test the hypothesis that a dependence on marine resources for food differed depending on ablation type during childhood and adulthood, stable isotope ratios of bone collagen and tooth enamel were measured. It was discovered that diets did vary among individuals with different ablation types in the Inariyama population. The findings provide important evidence that biocultural dietary differences were related to ablation type in the Jomon period.

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.

Paleodietary Patterns of the Cherepakha 13 Site Population (Early Iron Age) in Primorye (Maritime) Province, Russian Far East, based on Stable Isotope Analysis

Radiocarbon ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 1611-1620 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaroslav V Kuzmin ◽  
Vsevolod S Panov ◽  
Viacheslav V Gasilin ◽  
Sergei V Batarshev
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Isotope Composition ◽  
Russian Far East ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Far East ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Terrestrial Mammals ◽  
Maritime Province

ABSTRACTNew paleodietary data were obtained after the discovery and excavation in 2015–2017 of the Cherepakha 13 site in the southern part of Primorye (Maritime) Province in far eastern Russia. The site is located near the coast of Ussuri Bay (Sea of Japan) and belongs to the Yankovsky cultural complex of the Early Iron Age 14C-dated to ca. 3000 BP (ca. 1200 cal BC). The stable isotope composition of the bone collagen for 11 humans and 30 animals was determined. For humans, the following values (with±1 sigma) were yielded: δ13C=–10.2±0.8‰; and δ15N=+12.4±0.3‰. The majority of terrestrial animals show the usual isotopic signals: δ13C=–19.4 ÷ –23.3‰; and δ15N=+4.6÷+6.6‰ (for wolves, up to +10.1‰); dogs, however, have an isotopic composition similar to humans: δ13C= –11.7±1.2‰; and δ15N=+12.4±0.4‰. Marine mammals have common values for pinnipeds: δ13C=–13.7 ÷ –14.6‰; and δ15N=+17.4 ÷ +18.0‰. The main food resources for the population of Cherepakha 13 site were (1) marine mollusks, fish, and mammals; and (2) terrestrial mammals; and possibly C4 plants (domesticated millets).

The Contribution of Stable Isotope Analysis to the Study of Childhood Movement and Migration

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie A. Hemer ◽  
Jane A. Evans
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Stable Isotope Analysis ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Human Tooth ◽  
Population Mobility ◽  
Single Tooth ◽  
Non Local ◽  
And Migration

Stable isotope analysis is firmly established as a method for the investigation of past population mobility. The distinction between local and non-local individuals within a cemetery population relies on identifying an individual’s place of childhood residence through the analysis of strontium and oxygen isotopes present in human tooth enamel. Traditionally, studies investigating mobility focus on the analysis of a single tooth. More recently, however, it has become apparent that in order to investigate the mobility of an individual during childhood—and thus to consider the importance of children in the migration process—it is necessary to analyse a series of teeth which form at different stages during the early years of life. This chapter will consider the potential of—and challenges surrounding—this scientific approach to the investigation of childhood mobility in the past.

Evaluating bone collagen extraction methods for stable isotope analysis in dietary studies

2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (11) ◽  
pp. 1824-1829 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Louise S. Jørkov ◽  
Jan Heinemeier ◽  
Niels Lynnerup
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Stable Isotope Analysis ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Extraction Methods ◽  
Bone Collagen

scholarly journals Diet and Radiocarbon Dating of Tollund Man: New Analyses of an Iron Age Bog Body from Denmark

Radiocarbon ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 1533-1545 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina H Nielsen ◽  
Bente Philippsen ◽  
Marie Kanstrup ◽  
Jesper Olsen
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Scientific Investigations ◽  
Bog Body ◽  
General Diet ◽  
Isotope Analyses ◽  
Isotope Measurements

ABSTRACTTollund Man is one of the most famous Iron Age bog bodies due to his well-preserved head. Since he was unearthed in 1950 in Bjældskovdal, Denmark, he has been subjected to several scientific investigations, but until now no attempts to reconstruct his general diet through isotope analyses have been conducted. Furthermore, previous radiocarbon (14C) analyses have only been able to date him broadly to the 3rd–4th century BC. In this study, stable isotope measurements (δ13C, δ15N) on bone collagen from Tollund Man’s femur and rib showed that the diet of Tollund Man was terrestrial-based and that the crops he ate probably were grown on manured fields. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dates were obtained on both the <30kDa and >30kDa fractions of ultrafiltered collagen. Results showed that the ultrafiltration removed contamination from older substances from the burial environment. The femur was dated to 2330±23 BP, the rib to 2322±30 BP. These dates statistically agree with a previously published AMS 14C age on skin. By combining the new dates with the previous date of his skin it was possible to narrow down the age of Tollund Man to the period 405–380 cal BC (95.4% confidence interval).

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