stable isotope analysis (Other Keyword)
1-25 (87 Records)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Traditional zooarchaeological methods studying trade rely on the identification of animals found outside their natural habitat ranges. More recently, strontium isotope (86Sr/87Sr) analyses have proven to be a powerful tool for studying the movement of animals found in archaeological contexts. Strontium isotopic evidence from the Maya lowlands has...
Adding to the Paleoenvironmental Framework for Early Settlement of Interior Alaska: New Perspectives on Local Changes in Vegetation and Hydrology from Plant Wax N-Alkanes (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of Alaska, the Gateway to the Americas" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Many paleoenvironmental reconstructions from interior Alaska are based on pollen assemblages from lacustrine cores, which are sometimes challenging to relate directly to terrestrial conditions experienced by early human occupants. Here we use compound-specific stable isotope analysis of plant wax n-alkanes (δ13C wax and δDwax values) to...
The Adoption of Agriculture in the Tehuacan Valley, Mexico: Stable Isotope Data for 10,000 Years of Environmental and Dietary Change (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Subsistence Crops and Animals as a Proxy for Human Cultural Practice" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. An enduring focus in anthropological research concerns the causes for adoption of agriculture in multiple regions across the globe near the onset of the Holocene. The Tehuacan Valley of Puebla, Mexico, represents a unique location to explore long-term trends of human-plant coevolution as the dry climate of the valley...
The Analysis of a Late Holocene Bison Skull from the Ashley National Forest, Utah (2004)
In 2003 a partial bison skull was recovered by Ashley National Forest archeologist Brian Storm from an elevation of 3840 m (12,600 ft) AMSL in the Uinta Mountains. The partial skull consists of a portion of the frontal, occipital region, and horn cores including horn sheaths. The presence of the horn sheaths is of particular interest for the ecological information they can provide. Through the analysis of the individual cones of the horn sheath a record of the animal’s dietary and migration...
Ancient Human-Animal Interactions in Chachapoyas Region: Isotopic Analysis of Zooarchaeological Remains from Kuelap, Peru (2018)
This study uses isotopic analysis of fauna remains as a proxy for reconstructing the ancient Chachapoya environment of the northeastern highlands in Peru. Large middens have been excavated at the monumental center of Kuelap (900-1535 CE), yet there is little previous research focused on the fauna remains at this or other archaeological contexts in the region. The goal of this project was to reconstruct animal resource exploitation and provide insight into dietary variation and environment at...
Application of Stable Isotope Analysis to Questions of Status Formation and Dietary Disparities at Chalcatzingo, Morelos, Mexico (2016)
The Formative period site of Chalcatzingo in Morelos, Mexico (1150-450 BCE) represents a socially complex society and contains the only Olmec-style monumental architecture in the region. Evidence for social stratification at Chalcatzingo includes differences in burial location and unequal distribution of rare artifacts. Significant debate surrounds the potential Olmec cultural influence on status formation and social stratification throughout Formative period Mesoamerica. Some scholars...
Bioarchaeologocal approaches to reconstructing Upper Palaeolithic environments in the Cantabrian Region, Northern Spain. (2017)
The Cantabrian Region of Northern Spain was an important refugium during the harsh conditions of the Last Glacial Maximum, when ice sheets covered much of Northern Europe and populations were pushed further south. Late Upper populations in the Cantabrian region thrived at this time, and there is an increase in the density of archaeological sites is seen, in addition to cultural changes such as the creation of rich cave art assemblages. Understanding the climatic and environmental conditions...
Carbon and Nitrogen isotopic analysis on human and animal bones of Nanwa site, Henan Province, China (2017)
The Nanwa site（1680BC-Song Dynasty; located in Dengfeng city, Henan Province, China, provided a valuable opportunity for the Xia Dynasty and the Chinese civilization investigation. We could provide effective evidence for the food resources utilize pattern and agricultural economy development. Stable isotopic carbon, nitrogen analysis of 14 animals and 22 human bone collagen from the Nanwa site indicated that, wild animals (-19.9‰, 4.4‰, n=1) have a C3-based terrestrial diet. Domesticated pigs...
Carbon, Nitrogen, and Oxygen Stable Isotope Ratios from Room 28 Lagomorphs (2018)
Stable isotope analysis is a powerful tool for investigating ecological change and human impact in the past. Here, we present carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen stable isotope results from lagomorphs excavated from Room 28 alongside those from two other archeological sites within Chaco Canyon (Pueblo Bonito middens and the Bc57 site) as well as modern lagomorphs collected opportunistically during archeological survey. Oxygen isotope ratios remain consistent between time periods and locations, which is...
Childhood and Adulthood Mobility at Medieval (1240s AD) Solt-Tételhegy, Hungary Reconstructed from Stable Oxygen Isotope Analysis (2016)
Between 2005 and 2009, archaeologists excavated more than 100 skeletons from the medieval (1240s AD) Hungarian site of Solt-Tételhegy. Little has been published about this archaeological settlement, and although previous stable isotopic research has described the migration patterns of medieval European peoples, here we present the first such study performed on a medieval Hungarian population. Stable oxygen isotope analysis was conducted on dental enamel from 23 individuals and on bone apatite...
Childhood Diets and Residential Mobility in the Late Intermediate Period, Colca Valley, Peru: A Study of Carbon and Oxygen Isotope Ratios from Dental Apatite (2017)
Around AD 1300 in the Colca Valley of southern Peru, an increasing proportion of elite individuals began to mark themselves as ethnically distinct by elongating the heads of children. This permanent act had far-reaching effects on the livelihoods of modified individuals, especially females, who exhibit more diversified diets in adulthood and experienced lower rates of cranial trauma. The present study complements prior stable isotopic analysis of bone collagen by examining carbon and oxygen...
A Combined Bioarchaeological and Isotopic Approach to Understanding the Regional Diversity and Population Mobility within the Holmul Region, Guatemala (2015)
The northeastern Petén of Guatemala is an ideal area for applying stable isotope analysis to reconstruct past population histories and to explore the interplay of migration and social complexity throughout the rise of the Maya. The strontium and oxygen isotope analysis of dental enamel is a productive alternative when bone collagen is not available or is severely altered by taphonomic processes or conditions of preservation. These isotopic analyses of dental enamel can be combined with...
Cultural and Ecological Relationships between the Unangax̂ and Seabirds on Sanak Island, AK (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Seabirds were, and continue to be, an important resource for the Unangax̂ living in the Aleutian Archipelago, AK. In addition to food, birds were used as raw material for everyday and ceremonial clothing, tools, and objects. They also play an important role in Unangan ontologies, appearing in transformative processes. Sanak Island, the easternmost island...
Deviance in youth: Anomalous nitrogen and carbon isotopic values among individual subadults at Medieval Alytus, Lithuania (2015)
Rapid turnover of bone collagen δ13C and δ15N values in subadults can reveal dietary and physiological changes experienced by illuminating chronic stress not apparent as skeletal, pathological lesions. To assess subadult morbidity and mortality in Medieval Alytus, Lithuania, an osteobiographical examination was undertaken of individuals who presented humeral isotopic values ± 2σ from sample and cohort means (-20.02 ± 0.43‰; 11.09 ± 1.21‰). Four infants (0.1-2.9 years) and four juveniles (5-11.9...
Diet and Migration in Coastal Oaxaca: Identifying Effects of Political and Social Collapse through the Utilization of Stable Isotope Analysis (2017)
This study reports on diet and mobility among people living in the lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico, during the Late Classic (AD 500-800) and Early Postclassic (AD 800-1200) periods, specifically focusing on how political and social collapse affected subsistence practices, diet, and human migration. Archaeological evidence suggests that Río Viejo, the region’s largest urban center before AD 800, experienced multiple periods of political fragmentation and instability during its long...
Diet and mobility on the Canadian Plateau: Isotopic analysis of domestic dogs and other fauna from the Bridge River site (2017)
This study reports on carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur isotope analyses of dog remains and other fauna from the Bridge River site in the Mid-Fraser region of the Canadian Plateau. We discuss these results in relation to dietary variability and resource mobility through time and in the relationships between dogs and humans. While dogs are not a direct proxy for humans in dietary isotope studies, their diets are influenced by human dietary practices, and therefore indicative of human subsistence...
Diet in Coastal Arequipa, Peru, at the Dawn of the Wari Empire (2017)
Excavations at Uraca, a cemetery in the Majes Valley, Arequipa, Peru, uncovered incomplete human skeletons (MNI = 157) and associated grave goods dating to the Early Intermediate Period and the early Middle Horizon. Interpersonal violence was omnipresent at Uraca: 67 of 100 adults suffered cranial wounds (7 were insults received around the time of death), and 20 individuals were violently decapitated and/or defleshed after death. AMS dates show the individuals buried at Uraca lived from...
Dietary Histories in Early China: Gender and Food in Urban and Rural Eastern Zhou Communities (771–221 BCE, Ancient Zhenghan City, China) (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Stable isotope analysis of human skeletal samples allows bioarchaeologists to study human diet from discrete periods of life and can provide fine-grained dietary histories of individuals. Previous research on the Eastern Zhou Dynasty identified dietary differences between adult females and males, and a study of childhood diet for two urban Eastern Zhou...
Dietary variability through isotopic analysis of modern human hair from Nicaragua: exploring significant differences in diet between and among demographic groups in a single population (2017)
Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of modern human hair from Nicaragua was used to explore what constitutes significant differences in gross diet between and among demographic groups within the same population. Our results show that the absolute differences between isotopic central tendencies of demographic groups are small, but some are significant. Socioeconomic categories that were found to have significantly different isotopic signatures between or among groups included age groups...
Dietary variation at Paquimé (Casas Grandes) and Convento sites: Evidence from the stable isotope analysis of human bone collagen (2016)
Paquimé (Casas Grandes), located in northern Mexico, is well known for its Medio period (AD 1200-1450) monumental architecture and the variation apparent in its mortuary practices. While previous bioarcheological studies have addressed a wide range of questions, dietary practices at Paquimé still remain largely unexplored. Stable isotope analysis of bone collagen is one technique that can directly reconstruct diets at Paquimé and identify differences between individuals, time periods, and...
Documenting Dietary Effects of Imperial Collapse and Drought: Bioarchaeology and Stable Isotope Analysis at Huari-Vegachayoq Moqo, Peru (2017)
This study examines the diets of 32 individuals who were deposited in the Vegachayoq Moqo sector at the site of Huari, the capital of the Wari Empire. The commingled skeletal remains date to the second half of the Late Intermediate Period (LIP), long after the empire’s collapse circa 1100 CE. This was also a time of an extended drought. The diets, reconstructed from carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes from bone collagen, are compared among the individuals and to those of earlier Wari populations...
Dog Diet Reconstruction as a Tool to Assess Forager Response to Introduction of Agriculture in the Northern Plains: Stable Isotope Analysis and Ancient DNA Data (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Dogs in the Archaeological Record" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The transition to agriculture in the Great Plains of North America is generally assumed to have occurred through processes of migration and diffusion. But understanding the nuance of this transition at local and subregional scales requires a focus on different types of social interactions and community-level decision-making. One method is to use dogs...
Early Childhood Diet during the Bronze Age Eastern Zhou Dynasty (China): Evidence from Stable Isotope Analysis (2019)
This is an abstract from the "The Health and Welfare of Children in the Past" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Diet and health are deeply intertwined, and childhood is a critical period where nutrition can have significant short- and long-term effects on the growing individual. Breastfeeding, weaning, and childhood dietary habits are culturally-mediated practices, and how a developing body is fed is a critical cultural experience with biological...
Early Pastoralists in Tanzania: Mobility and the Seasonal Round (2018)
First developing around 8,000 years ago, pastoralism in Africa has continued as a flexible and dynamic mode of subsistence. One key feature of this dynamism is mobility, which is crucial for many East African pastoralists today to access seasonally available pasture and water. In areas of unpredictable rainfall, mobile pastoralism permits more people to live in dry lands than do other subsistence strategies. How the earliest herders in Tanzania used the landscape is still relatively unknown....
Ecology of Bison in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (2018)
Bringing the geologically historic record to bear on questions of ecosystem evolution is a goal emphasized in recent National Research Council reports. Within this context one species has become significant, the bison of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Recent expansion of the population, and its subsequent migration outside federal lands, has created concern among federal managers, local ranchers, and conservation groups. However, much of what is known about pre-management herds is based...