Isotope Analysis (Other Keyword)
1-25 (40 Records)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Isotopic analysis has been used in archaeological and forensic contexts to examine diet, migration, trace evidence, and the origin of individuals. This project examines whether individuals were of a forensic or archaeological context using δ13C, δ15N, and δ34Sisotope values on behalf of the British Columbia Coroners Service. Carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur...
The application of strontium isotope analysis to historic cemetery contexts: a case study for the creation of robust individual identifications (2015)
Following the 1991-1992 excavation of the Milwaukee County Institutional Grounds Cemetery (1878-1925), up to 190 individuals were preliminarily identified using historical documentation, material culture, and geospatial analysis. Subsequent bioarchaeological analyses have provided an additional line of evidence for the identification of these individuals. The cemetery population of Western European immigrants and local/nonlocal native born Americans is composed of paupers, the institutionalized,...
Burial Excavations in Plaza 1 of Los Pilarillos, Zacatecas, Mexico, 1997 Season (1998)
Fieldwork from the 1997 season at Los Pilarillos.
Caribbean Anthropogenic Paleozoogeography: Cultural and Ecological Significance of Animal Introductions in the Lesser Antilles (2016)
Studies of exotic animal introductions in the insular Caribbean have focused on the paleozoogeography, origin, and dispersal patterns of these taxa, but have yet to resolve a number of important, related issues. Among these are the critical problems of distinguishing live introductions from the import of animal parts and assessing the degree of animal management practiced by Amerindians. These questions are fundamental to understanding the broader cultural and ecological significance of faunal...
Changing Foodways in Pre-Columbian Illinois (2015)
Pre-Columbian Native Americans of Illinois have had a long history of plant production from foraging to cultivation via horticulture to domestication via agriculture. Isotopic analysis has been used as a standard for comparing diet from different sites and isotopic ratios are given as parts-per-mil (‰), and reflect the consumption of types of food. Carbon isotopes (δ13C) can indicate the types of plants eaten and nitrogen isotopes (δ15N) indicate the trophic level of protein sources in the diet....
A climatic imperative? Testing the connection between climate and crop adoption in the Indus and the Hexi corridor (2015)
Why might societies adopt new crops or change their cropping patterns? Climate change is one of several possible drivers, but its role in crop exchange has rarely been empirically tested and its importance relative to other factors, particularly cultural factors, remains controversial. As part of the Food Globalisation in Prehistory project, two isotopic studies have aimed to directly test the relationship between climate change and crop movement in particular contexts. One focuses on the Hexi...
A Combined 87Sr/86Sr and δ18O Isoscape of Minnesota for Estimating Geographic Origins – A Case Study (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Strontium and oxygen isotopes preserved within plant and animal remains reflect the regional geology and environment where they originated. This approach relies on a regional map of baseline isotope values – or isoscape – to link values preserved in remains with a region of origin. Mechanistic models, which estimate baseline 87Sr/86Sr based on age and type...
Culture Change at Casas Grandes: New Perspectives from Bioarchaeological Analyses (2017)
One of the significant ongoing debates surrounding Casas Grandes is whether the Medio period florescence of Paquimé arose from in situ developments or external stimuli. Some scholars have attributed Medio period cultural developments to the arrival of immigrants from surrounding regions, including Mesoamerica, west Mexico, and the American Southwest, while others have suggested that Paquimé grew out of the preceding Viejo period. To address this question, we use strontium and oxygen isotope...
Documenting the Forced Migration of Enslaved Peoples at the Grassmere Plantation, Nashville, Tennessee Using Strontium and Lead Isotope Analyses (2017)
The Grassmere Plantation in Nashville, Tennessee was established in 1810, and documents show that unnamed, enslaved peoples labored there throughout the decades until emancipation. Our research investigates whether enslaved laborers were born and raised on the plantation or were forcibly moved there later in their lives. To address that question, we analyzed strontium and lead isotope ratios from tooth enamel. Twenty burials were recovered from Grassmere, and we obtained strontium and lead...
EA-IRMS and the isotope ecology from faunal remains at the Slocan Narrows site, Upper Columbia River area, interior Pacific Northwest (2017)
Isotope ecological signatures can add to the overall understanding of terrestrial and aquatic species’ diets that are present at an archaeological site. In this paper we analyze fauna specimens from across the breadth of species found at the Slocan Narrows site, an aboriginal pithouse village occupied from 3,100 cal BP to the late 18th century in the Upper Columbia River area of the interior Pacific Northwest. We utilize EA-IRMS to measure δN, δC, and δO isotope ratios to obtain an...
Establishing Cultural Affiliation under NAGPRA Using Geographic Origin: A Case Study of Minnesota (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Indigenous perspectives of cultural affiliation center on shared relationships with the land (Bruchac 2005); thus, establishing cultural affiliation under NAGPRA is more meaningful if it can reassociate an ancestor based on their region of origin. Biological relatedness has been used to establish cultural affiliation, but this approach prioritizes a...
EVALUATING MOBILITY, MONUMENTALITY, AND FEASTING AT THE SAPELO ISLAND SHELL RING COMPLEX (2008)
Two of the most salient anthropological questions regarding Southeastern shell ring sites are related to the season(s) that they were occupied and whether or not the deposits represent monumental constructions and/or feasting remains. This paper addresses these questions through the analysis growth band of clams (Mercenaria spp.) and stable oxygen isotope ratios of clam and oyster shells (Crassostrea virginica) at the Sapelo Island Shell Ring complex located on the Georgia coast, USA. The...
Examining Large Game Animal Trade at Two Fremont Sites in Utah (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Strontium isotope analysis has been used by archaeologists to track prehistoric human and animal migrations. Strontium isotope analysis can suggest which large game individuals were obtained locally by prehistoric hunters and which were brought to habitation sites through long-distance hunting or trade. This study explores the potential of using strontium...
Exploring Social and Economic Change at the Bronze Age-Iron Age Transition in Southern Britain: A Multi-isotope and Zooarchaeological Approach (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Integrating Isotope Analyses: The State of Play and Future Directions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age (ca. 800–400 BC) was a time of great transition in various parts of Europe, largely relating to climatic deterioration and the breakdown of networks surrounding the production and trade of Bronze. In southern Britain this saw the rise of a new site type, commonly termed a midden....
Fodder and Water: Isotope Analysis of Livestock Enamel in Southwest Spanish Colonial Settlements in the Pimeria Alta (2016)
The introduction of livestock to the Pimeria Alta in the 18th-century dramatically shifted resource use in the Sonoran Desert and the Santa Cruz River Valley. Colonial and indigenous politics and economics were transformed as a result of the presence and uses of these animals, but it is relatively unknown how O’odham people in the Santa Cruz Valley balanced the grazing and watering needs of livestock with the needs of farming and seasonal wild food gathering in the arid region. Using carbon and...
Informe parcial del Proyecto Valle de Malpaso La Quemada Temporada 1992 (1993)
Field work from the 1992 season at La Quemada
Informe parcial del Proyecto Valley de Malpaso-La Quemada Temporada 1993 (1995)
Fieldwork from the 1993 season at La Quemada
The Isotope Bioarcheology of the Transatlantic Slave Trade - How New Strontium Isoscapes Inform on Individual African Origins and Life Histories (2024)
For two decades, isotope biogeochemistry has allowed for the identification of first generation victims of the transatlantic slave trade in the Americas based on highly radiogenic strontium isotope ratios discovered in archaeological human remains from slavery contexts. However, as strontium isotope baseline data from most of Africa was absent these high strontium ratios were merely linked to sub-Saharan Africa at large, with little to no possibility of nuance regarding the actual regions...
Isotope Values Reveal “Canopy Effect” in Deer Territoriality and Maize Consumption for Dogs at Kentucky Archaeological Sites Dating to the Middle Woodland through Late Fort Ancient Time Periods (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Our study aims to investigate the movement and territorial behaviors of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmermann) and dogs (Canis familiaris Linneaus) over time, utilizing carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotope values derived from archaeological remains. An analysis of these isotope values extracted from tooth collagen and enamel was conducted...
La Quemada-Malpaso Valley Archaeological Project (LQ-MVAP)
For over 15 years, Mexican and American archaeologists and students have dug ancient ruins, walked the high desert landscape, and worked in laboratories to understand the rise and fall of La Quemada, Zacatecas. We want to know why societies become complex, developing social hierarchies with specialized economic, political, and religious roles for their members. Why do civilizations expand? Northern Mexico's ancient past is an ideal context for studying these questions. During the period A.D....
A Life’s Story from a Single Tooth? : a discussion of the value of destructive analyses (2017)
Countless studies have demonstrated that isotopic and ancient DNA analyses of human skeletal remains can provide a valuable added layer of information to the study of past populations and their lifeways. Although improvements in sampling methods and technological advances have greatly reduced the amount of bone or enamel required, these analyses still require the destruction of human remains. Many Native American communities are opposed and do not allow sampling of their ancestors’ remains for...
Livestock Economy and the Emergence of Urbanism in Central Italy during the Iron Age and Archaic Period (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper discusses subsistence specialization, livestock mobility, and husbandry strategies at Gabii during the eighth–fifth centuries BCE, a time of transition to state-level, urbanized political systems. The site of Gabii is one of several emerging cities in the Lower Tiber Valley that grew along a similar trajectory, expanding from dispersed hut...
Malpaso Database (2008)
no description provided
Mobility and Animal Economy in the Early Nuragic Culture: A Case Study from South-Central Sardinia (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Integrating Isotope Analyses: The State of Play and Future Directions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The origins of Sardinia’s Bronze Age Nuragic Culture remain poorly understood. Few early Nuragic sites have been systemically excavated and published, making it difficult to assess the social, political, and economic processes that took place in the Middle Bronze Age and laid the foundations for the culture’s Late...
Patterns of Migration at Paquimé: Insights from Isotopic and Demographic Data (2019)
This is an abstract from the "25 Years in the Casas Grandes Region: Celebrating Mexico–U.S. Collaboration in the Gran Chichimeca" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Interregional interaction has factored prominently in debates about the origin and cultural trajectory of Paquimé since the site was first excavated six decades ago. In this paper, we use a bioarchaeological approach to reconstruct the structure and scale of migration at Paquimé to better...