Stable Isotopes (Other Keyword)
51-75 (128 Records)
In order to understand human adaptation to climatic regimes, I compare lithic assemblages and oxygen isotope values from kangaroo rat remains found at the hunter-gatherer shellfish-collecting site of Scorpion Shelter in coastal northwestern Baja California. Scorpion Shelter is important because it contains a continuous faunal record for a coastal community that spans from the terminal Pleistocene through the Holocene (~11,600 BP – present). Using Human Behavioral Ecology, we would expect to see...
Hunting Varmints, or Tasty Morsels?: An Isotopic Survey of Iroquoian Garden Hunting (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. We use stable carbon and nitrogen analyses of over 500 archaeological animal bones to explore the relationship between ancient farming practices and local wild fauna in the context of Iroquoian horticulture in Southern Ontario (AD 1000-1600). By creating openings in the forest and introducing non-local plants, Iroquoian farming served to increase habitat...
The Iapodians in Iron Age Europe: a Stable Isotope and Radiocarbon Dating Program in Northern Croatia (2016)
In this paper, we report results from ongoing research on the Iapodian culture, a distinct group centered in the Lika region of modern-day Croatia. Despite excavations in the area since the late 1880s, the scope of Iapodian involvement in regional interaction spheres, larger trade networks, and the general Iron Age world is unclear, and has yet to be systematically analyzed with modern methods. Preliminary isotopic results from Iapodian samples demonstrate an increase in millet consumption,...
Identifying Consumption of Putrefied Meat in the Archaeological Record from δ15N Values (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Speth (2017) proposed that the consumption of putrid meat and fish might be a dietary item that is underexplored in the Upper Paleolithic food menu. In this presentation we explore ways to identify the consumption of putrid foods. We compare the results from our study of Δ15N observed in mammal muscle tissue decomposing during winter with published stable...
Infancy and Breastfeeding at Cerro Jazmín: Isotopic Data from a Late-Terminal Formative Population in the Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca (2018)
We present isotopic results from 25 adults and children from Cerro Jazmín. Bone collagen (n= 17) and bone and enamel apatite (n=21) isotopic data provide C, N, and O values describing diet and breastfeeding patterns. Carbon values suggest a narrow diet heavily based on maize and little animal protein. Individuals between 0-3 years of age had significantly higher nitrogen and oxygen values than adults, suggesting that these infants may have still been breastfeeding at the time of death. Weaning...
Influence of animal proxy choice on use of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen stable isotope ratios for determining past environmental variables (2017)
The stable isotope ratios of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen (δ13C, δ15N, and δ18O values) in animal tissues show promise as environmental indicators. We evaluated the use of chimpanzee hair and leporid (jackrabbit and cottontail) bones. Chimpanzee hair δ13C values correlate negatively with mean annual precipitation (MAP) as expected based on isotope variation in C3 plants, whereas δ15N values do not because of diet selectivity. Leporid bone δ13C values do not correlate with MAP because of leporid...
Inter- and intra-individual dietary variation among the agro-pastoralist Sai Island Meroitic population (2017)
We examine inter- and intra-individual variation in diet among high-status individuals from an agro-pastoralist Meroitic burial population interred on Sai Island in modern Sudan. We use stable isotope data (δ13C and δ15N) from dentinal collagen, extracted from serial micro-sections of third molars, to reconstruct the diet of 10 individuals. We employ MixSIAR, a hierarchical Bayesian model for estimating isotopic mixing, along with a previously constructed isotopic food-web to reconstruct human...
Investigating Breastfeeding/Weaning Practices and Adult Mobility Patterns during the Western Zhou Dynasty (1122 – 771 BC) at Boyangcheng, Anhui Province, China (2017)
In a first for Chinese archaeology, breastfeeding/weaning practices were investigated at the Western Zhou Dynasty (1122 – 771 BC) site of Boyangcheng, Anhui Province. Ribs and long bones were analyzed to examine short and long term dietary changes in each individual. The adult δ13C and δ15N results indicate that mixed C3 (possibly rice) and C4 (millet) terrestrial diets with varying levels of animal protein were consumed. The elevated subadult δ13C and δ15N results reflect that solid foods were...
Investigating Mobility through Oxygen Stable Isotopes from the Medieval Cemetery at Kilroot, County Antrim, Northern Ireland (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Mobility is the movement of people across distances, often within cultural or political boundaries, and is influenced by economic, religious, and social processes including individual identities. Anthropologists evaluate mobility of past peoples through oxygen stable isotopes, a biochemical measure to assess long-term water consumption influenced by...
An Investigation of Dietary Histories and Skeletal Health in a Muisca Population (950-1350 AD, Sabana de Bogotá, Colombia) (2015)
Highly stratified societies are characterized by differentiation between groups along various socially defined axes. The Tibanica community (950-1350 AD), part of the Muisca culture from the Sabana de Bogotá, Colombia, is an ideal population to study how social roles and identities are intertwined with human diet and skeletal health. Here we present stable isotope data to investigate the complexity of human diets across the life course by comparing childhood diets to adulthood diets for the same...
Isotope and Hunter-gatherer Ecology at the Morhiss Site on the Texas Coastal Plain (2017)
We analyze radiocarbon, stable carbon, and nitrogen isotope data from the Morhiss Site (41VT1) located on the Texas Coastal Plain. In 1939-1940, personnel with the Works Progress Administration excavated deep deposits at this large hunter-gatherer site but they lacked adequate chronological control and results were never fully reported. From this location on the Guadalupe River and only 35 km from the Gulf of Mexico, hunter-gatherers could access a variety of habitats. In fact they returned to...
Isotope diachronic changes in Armenia during Neolithic and Chalcolithic period: Environment, herding strategies, human dietary practices (2015)
The Caucasus, at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia, is a key region to investigate the modalities of the distribution of plants. Our study aims at documenting the presence of C4 plants, wild and domestic as millet crop and detecting their management and consumption through this area using stable isotope analysis of human and animal remains. Two Armenian archaeological sites, Aknashen (Late Neolithic) and Godedzor (Late Chalcolithic), allowed a detailed sampling of 95...
An Isotopic Evaluation of the Classic Andean Mobility Models in Northern Chile during the Late Intermediate Period (AD 900-1450) (2017)
Research on the Late Intermediate Period (AD 900-1450) in northern Chile has been strongly influenced by two mobility models: John Murra’s classic vertical archipelago model and the more recent gyratory mobility model. The use and application of these two models, however, is problematic since there is insufficient supporting archaeological evidence. The use of stable isotope analysis allows a direct approach for studying diet and mobility patterns, in contrast to material culture. The aim of...
Isotopic Evidence for Protohistoric Field Locations in Northeastern Illinois (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Finding Fields: Locating and Interpreting Ancient Agricultural Landscapes" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the western Great Lakes region of the USA, late prehistoric and early historic Indigenous fields are often difficult to investigate because their archaeological signatures are faint and easily destroyed. They have been identified largely via rare remnants of ridged fields and historical records. With the...
Isotopic evidence of affinity and social classes of Mongolian noble family during Yuan Dynasty (2017)
So far, the relationship among Mongolian noble families is scarce due to little findings of Mongolian burials. In this study, isotopic analysis of Mongolian noble tombs was undertaken, aiming to understand the dietary affinity and social classes within Mongolian families. The isotopic similarity and difference was discerned among the population and the reason to account for that was also discussed.
Isotopic examination of human remains associated with the Korell-Bordeaux site (48GO54), Goshen County, Wyoming: δ13C and δ18O from bone and enamel apatite (2015)
Bone and enamel apatite from human remains (N=17) recovered at the Korell-Bordeaux (48GO54) site in Goshen County, Wyoming during the 1980 and 2009 field seasons was analyzed using stable carbon and oxygen isotope methods. Patterns related to the geographic mobility and overall sustenance sourcing of the members of the population during their first and final decades of life are detailed. Remains stained with degraded copper alloys were examined through the same procedural methods and differences...
Isotopic Perspectives on Animal Husbandry Practices (2017)
This paper presents carbon and nitrogen isotope data from camelid (llama and alpaca) bone, hair, and wool textiles from sites throughout the north coast of Peru spanning the Early Intermediate Period through the Late Intermediate Period (200 BC – AD 1476). Through these case studies this paper explores how stable isotope data can be interpreted using various statistical methods to infer a deeper understanding of human-animal interactions in the past than would be possible using only traditional...
Isotopic Perspectives on Spatial and Temporal Variability in British Columbia Paleodiet (2017)
This study aggregates and re-evaluates all available stable isotope data from archaeological human remains in British Columbia. Isotope signatures for coastal individuals correspond well with the heavy marine specialization attested to by archaeological and ethnographic studies of traditional Northwest Coast diets. Within this marine specialization, the data for coastal BC demonstrate a high degree of regional dietary variability, although high trophic level marine prey species are of ubiquitous...
Landscape and Dietary Change in Formative Period Coastal Oaxaca (2017)
This paper presents the results of an isotopic study of human dietary change during the Formative period (2000 BCE-300 CE) in the lower Río Verde Valley of Oaxaca. Approximately 60 individuals were sampled for δ13C and δ15N using both teeth and long bones. The study examines trends in the consumption of maize and marine/estuarine resources relative to regional environmental change. Interdisciplinary research along the drainage system indicates that environmental change in the lower Verde was...
Large changes environmental changes following commercial whaling in the Eastern Canadian Arctic (2016)
Stable isotope records from dovekie (Alle alle), ringed seal (Pusa hispida) and bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) bones recovered from archaeological sites in eastern North American High Arctic (northwestern Greenland and eastern Canadian Arctic) reveal little auks declined an entire trophic level in the 20th century, following stability between the 12th and early 20th centuries. Conversely, bowhead whale trophic level remained stable and ringed seal trophic level slightly increased across the...
Late Holocene dietary variation along the central California coast: Isotopic evidence for marine dependence (2015)
Reconstructing dietary variation among earlier human populations remains a major goal of archaeological research. Along the central California coast, archaeological reconstructions of hunter-gatherer subsistence have primarily focused on data gleaned from archaeofaunal remains and lithic assemblages. In this study, we examine paleodiets in Late Holocene (ca. 3430-660 B.P.) humans and fauna from the Monterey Bay area of the California coast. Using stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes of...
Late Precolumbian Subsistence Change, Socio-political Transformation, and Ethnogenesis in the Upper Illinois River Valley (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Migration and Climate Change: The Spread of Mississippian Culture" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Post-AD 1000 was a time of tremendous change in the Upper Illinois River valley. The Terminal Late Woodland groups in the region were bordered on the south by emergent Mississippian petty chiefdoms of the Central Illinois River valley, on the north by Oneota and Mississippian societies, and on the east by Fort Ancient...
Leprosy, Segregation, & Burial Context: Remote Desert Living in the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt (2016)
Stable oxygen isotope analysis of tooth enamel and bone apatite from adults afflicted with leprosy from the Kellis 2 cemetery (50-450 AD) in the Dakhleh Oasis provides insight into social perceptions of disease stigma during the Roman-Christian era in Egypt. Because there are no grave markers found in Kellis 2, this research focuses on the spatial analysis of stable isotope results to develop an interpretation of the burial location of leprosy cases. In particular, stable oxygen isotopes, which...
Linking Life and Death at the Early–Mid-Holocene Hunter-Gatherer Cemetery of Zvejnieki, Lativa, Northern Europe (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Northeast Asian Prehistoric Hunter-Gather Lifeways: Multidisciplinary, Individual Life History Approach" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The nature of the relationship between the living and the dead as seen through funerary rites is central to many aspects of archaeological interpretation. Indeed, this was the focus of early processual/postprocessual debates, with the former seeing a “real,” if distorted, connection...
Local Responses to Global Events: Regionally Distinct Dietary Changes among Eastern African Herders at the Close of the African Humid Period (2018)
Changing human diets in eastern Africa across the end of the African Humid Period (AHP) have been inferred indirectly from cultural and faunal remains at archaeological sites. Stable isotope analysis (SIA, specifically δ13C) can measure diets directly, yet few studies have conducted SIA on human remains from this region. We present 25 new δ13C values from human tooth enamel recovered from archaeological sites around Lake Turkana (northwest Kenya) and on Lukenya Hill and Rigo Cave (southern...