Stable Isotopes (Other Keyword)
126-138 (138 Records)
For thousands of years and on a global scale, shellfish have been a key resource for peoples living in island and coastal environments. Not only were they critical food resources, but can act as records of paleoenvironmental conditions. In this study, we evaluated whether the crocus clam (Tridacna crocea) could satisfactorily record ambient water temperature via the incorporation of oxygen isotope ratios into the calcium carbonate matrix during shell growth. Modern Tridacna crocea were collected...
Story of an unusually preserved early modern Vicar in Finnish Lapland (2017)
The custom of burying beneath church floors, commonly practiced among the early modern elite, is responsible for the mummification of the remains of a Northern Finnish vicar, Nikolaus Rungius (c.1560–1629). The mummy of Vicar Rungius exhibited since the 18th century is the source of several local stories. A computed tomography (CT) imaging performed on his remains allowed examining his anthropometric features, but it also revealed indications of pathological conditions of which the Vicar may...
Substantial intensity of millet agriculture during the Bronze and Iron Ages in Kazakhstan is revealed in δ13C and δ18O time series of incrementally sampled livestock teeth (2017)
This paper presents carbon and oxygen isotopic values incrementally sampled from mandibular molars of domesticated livestock from pastoralists sites in eastern, central, and northern Kazakhstan with Bronze and Iron Age occupations. The intra-tooth patterning of δ13C and δ18O values are used to characterize millet consumption from foddering and grazing on stubble in harvested fields. Results indicate that some animals were seasonally consuming large proportions of C4 plants as early as 2400 cal...
Sulfur Isotope Ratios of Terrestrial and Coastal Fauna on the Southeastern Coast: A Step toward Resolving Equifinality in Human Paleodiet Reconstructions (2018)
Sulfur isotope ratios in human bone collagen are used in paleodiet reconstructions to distinguish between marine- and terrestrial-based diets, because sulfur isotope ratios in marine organisms are typically higher. However, natural phenomena such as sea spray, rain, and flooding can deposit sea water sulfates on land that are bioavailable to plants and terrestrial animals. Comparing sulfur from archaeological deer and fish-eating raccoons from sites both in close proximity to the coast and...
Testing and Improving Interlaboratory Comparability of Tooth Enamel Carbonate Isotope Analyses (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Carbon and oxygen isotope ratios of human tooth enamel carbonate are frequently used to reconstruct past diet, movement, and environmental conditions. Despite a long legacy of research, samples are prepared and analyzed using a remarkably broad range of protocols, and this methodological heterogeneity raises questions about the comparability of isotopic...
Turkey Provisioning, Exchange, and the Isotopic Zooarchaeology of Social Transformations in the Mesa Verde Region (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Isotopic and Animal aDNA Analyses in the Southwest/Northwest" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Changes in resource acquisition patterns are important components of larger social transformations, including shifts in the source areas and transport patterns of important animal resources. In the Mesa Verde region, increasing population aggregation and shifting settlement locations from AD 750 through 1225 also increased...
Understanding the Diet of Late to Terminal Classic Period Maya Groups in the Sibun River Valley, Belize, through Food Web Reconstruction (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A stable isotope based dietary study, coupled with previously collected zooarchaeological and botanical data, expands our understanding of ancient Maya dietary variation in the Late and Terminal Classic periods in the Sibun River Valley of central Belize. A food web was created based on the analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in plants and...
Urbanisation and Animal Husbandry in Ancient Western Europe: How Territoriality Affects Negatively Husbandry Productivity (2016)
Mobility is key to the survival and adaptation of human and animal populations. In all cases, having the ‘right of way’ is necessary to move across territories. How was it in the past? How humans decided about mobility in the context of demographic growth and increase of social complexity that occurred in Europe in the first millennium BC? Strontium isotopic ratios are a powerful tool for investigating mobility in the past. This paper offers a review of strontium isotopic ratios for Western...
Using C and N stable isotopes in ostrich eggshells to develop paleoenvironmental records for Late Pleistocene East African rock shelter sequences (2017)
The Middle to Later Stone Age transition in East Africa ~30-60 ka has been hypothesized as a response to increased resource risk due to cooler, drier Late Pleistocene environments with greater short-term variability. Local paleoenvironmental records are needed to test such hypotheses. Ostrich eggshell (OES) fragments are common in African archaeological sequences, are amenable to 14C and U-series dating, and their δ13C and δ15N values are known to correspond to the C isotopes of vegetation and...
Using stable isotope analyses to assess the geographical origins of pork and beef products in a historical New World population center (2016)
This presentation explores the utility of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses as a method for tracing the geographical origins of meat products from major livestock species. Samples (n= 250) from pigs and cattle consumed in the historical city of York, later renamed Toronto, in Canada are compared with animals raised in other areas, in both local as well as distant regions. Results show how cultural as well as environmental isotopic variables can be used to distinguish between animals...
Using Zooarchaeology and Stable Isotope Analysis to Explore Animal Husbandry Practices in 19th Century San Jose, California (2024)
This is an abstract from the session entitled "Life and Death in the San Francisco Bay: Multi-Disciplinary Approaches to Historic Lifeways", at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. In the 19th century, Santa Clara County, California, was known as the "Valley of Heart's Delight" for its importance as an agricultural and farming region. Although historical accounts abound, our understanding of the practice of raising and tending domestic livestock is limited. By...
Variability in Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Ratios in Banana Yucca (Yucca Baccata) from Cedar Mesa, Utah: Environmental, Inter-Organ and Processing-based Effects (2015)
Recent stable isotope and phytolith studies suggest that desert succulents (in particular Yucca sp. and Opuntia sp.) were a non-trivial component of Ancestral Puebloan diets. However, isotopic variability in such resources is poorly documented. We present 𝜹C13 and 𝜹N15 values for fruits and seeds of thirty modern Banana Yucca (Yucca baccata) specimens from Cedar Mesa, Utah. Experimental roasting and simulated mastication of yucca ‘crowns’ allow separate assays of whole tissue, fiber, and...
What did you have for dinner last night? Revealing diet, mobility, and movement of people within Middle Iron Age British society through multi-isotopic analysis (2016)
The Middle Iron Age in southern central Britain (c. 300–150 cal BC) is a period that is often seen as becoming regionally inward-looking. A primary focus of the mixed agriculturalists is on building and maintaining massive hillforts. There is very little long-distance exchange or trade noted in the archaeological record, and the metalwork at the time takes on insular forms (e.g. involuted brooches) that separate it from the Continental connections observable in both the Early and Late Iron...