stable isotope analysis (Other Keyword)
26-50 (99 Records)
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...
The Elite Meroitic Necropolis of Sai Island, Part II: Bioarchaeological Interpretations (2017)
Five Meroitic necropoli have been identified on Sai Island, located in northern Sudan between the 2nd and 3rd Nile cataracts. Recent archaeological excavations conducted by the French Unit of the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums have focused on a small elite Meroitic necropolis (300BC-350AD). Although the archaeology of this necropolis is complicated by interments from other periods and looting, here we present the initial analyses of the Meroitic elite skeletal remains in...
Environmental reconstruction at Pueblo Grande, Arizona through stable isotope analysis of Leporid bone (2015)
Stable isotope analysis of faunal bone can provide valuable information about the environments in which the animals lived. Reconstructing paleoenvironments at archaeological sites permits a better understanding of the factors that influenced their social development and decline. In this poster we present results of stable isotopic analyses (d13Capatite, d18Oapatite, d13Ccollagen and d15Ncollagen) of leporid bone apatite and collagen to investigate temporal changes in environmental conditions at...
Escaping Collapse in Northwest Mexico: Social and Environmental Factors of Resiliency at La Ferrería, Durango, Mexico (2016)
The end of the Mesoamerican Classic Period (ca. AD 900) was a time characterized by widespread social change, political upheaval, and broad regional drought conditions. In Northwest Mexico, several large centers such as La Quemada and Alta Vista were abandoned and never reoccupied. The site of La Ferrería in the Guadiana Valley of Durango, however, remained an important site for several centuries into the Postclassic Period. This presentation explores the social and environmental factors that...
Evaluating the Utility of Using Stable Oxygen Isotope Analysis to Study Ancient Migration and Climate Reconstruction in the Ayacucho Basin of Peru (2016)
This study examines whether oxygen isotope analysis can be used to study ancient human migration in the central, highland Andes of Peru (Ayacucho Basin). Although strontium isotope analysis is a reliable way of exploring questions of migration, oxygen isotope analysis, which is significantly less expensive, may offer preliminary insights regarding the possible presence of migrants at a site. This approach has not yet been used in the Ayacucho Basin where the Wari empire was centered, so we...
Evidence for Close Management of Sheep in Ancient Central Asia: Foddering Techniques and Transhumance in the Final Bronze Age (2018)
Ancient animal management strategies have important implications for debates on modern pastoral landscape use in Eurasia. As livestock production intensifies in in semi-arid regions there is a need to identify the diverse set of strategies employed by pastoralists. Sequential carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) isotope analysis of teeth from domesticated sheep at Bronze Age sites in Kazakhstan exhibit varied isotopic sequences. Sheep from Kent exhibit an inverse relationship where low δ18O values...
Exploring Human-Canid Interactions among the Dorset Using Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Analysis (2015)
The scarcity of clearly identifiable dog bones and artifacts associated with dogsled traction has led many archaeologists to posit that the Dorset did not keep domestic dogs. While this statement has implications for the ability of the Dorset to cope with the variability of the arctic environment, it may also be an oversimplification of the problem. Canid remains do occur on Dorset sites, albeit in low numbers, but they are not identifiable to species based on skeletal morphology alone due to...
Exploring sex-based variation in infant feeding practices in Byzantine Greece using stable isotope analysis of dentin serial sections (2017)
This paper explores whether sex-based differences in infant feeding practices existed at the early Byzantine Greek site of Nemea (5th-6th c.). Dentin serial sections were obtained from the permanent first molar and first premolar from 31 adults (11 males, 8 females, 12 unidentified) and analyzed for stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes. The isotopic data demonstrated that most individuals were breastfed and fully weaned at a mean age of 2.6 with a range of 1.8 to 3.6 years. Sex-based differences...
Faunal management and human-landscape interactions at Ifugao, Luzon, Philippines (2017)
One major contribution of the Ifugao Archaeological Project in the northern Philippines (Luzon) is associating the origins of the Ifugao wet-rice terrace complex with local resistance against Spanish colonial expansion. With the establishment of wet-rice agriculture in the highlands by the early 17th century, it is anticipated that the acquisition and management of fauna would have been modified to adapt to new strategies of crop production. In this context, it is hypothesized that changes in...
Feeding the Ranks: correlating social organization and dietary patterns at the Yukisma Mound (CA-SCL-38) (2015)
The Yukisma Mound (CA-SCL-38), located in Santa Clara County, California, was used by the ancestral Ohlone as a mortuary site between approximately 940 and 230 years BP. Analysis of mortuary contexts within the mound revealed evidence of social differentiation in wealth, prestige, moiety affiliation and power. Special mortuary treatment, artifact abundance, and association with costly artifacts or culturally significant wealth items suggested that some individuals held higher status than...
Fertility in Ancient California: Life History Strategies and Implications for Demographics, Resource Intensification, and Social Organization (2017)
Human behavioral ecology predicts that individuals alter reproductive strategies in response to environmental and social conditions. I consider stable isotope measures (δ15N and δ13C) of weaning age, parental provisioning, and child foraging derived from human tissues as proxies for the reproductive strategies employed by prehistoric hunter-gatherer populations from Central California over a 6,000-year period. Shifts in weaning age and childhood diet over time suggest reduced parental investment...
From Maize Presence to Maize Incorporation: An Integrated Bioarchaeological Approach for Exploring Early Histories of Maize in the Eastern Woodlands (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Recent research has highlighted the difficulties with identifying the presence of early maize in the bioarchaeological and palaeoethnobotanical records of the Eastern Woodlands. Simon et al. (2021) found that there is no hard evidence of Middle Woodland maize for the region, and the earliest verified maize is now synchronous with the chronological...
From the Aegean to the Adriatic: Exploring the Neolithization of Islands (2016)
Frameworks for understanding Neolithization have increasingly recognized the complex and multifaceted nature of the spread of domesticates from Southwest Asia into Europe. But how do these factors interplay in unique island settings as compared to the continental scale? This paper takes a comparative approach using sites located on islands from the Aegean and the Adriatic to address changing subsistence and herd management between 10,000-7,000 BP. Based on zooarchaeological and biogeochemical...
Grazing Herds on a modern Jordanian Landscape: δ13C and δ15N analysis of plants and caprine hair keratin along an altitudinal cline (2015)
The topography of Jordan is uniquely characterized by dramatic shifts in altitude from -300 b.s.l. to +1300 a.s.l. over extremely short distances, which results in sharp differences in precipitation levels and the composition of vegetation communities along altitudinal gradients. Graze species favored by sheep and goats collected along an altitudinal gradient indicate predictable shifts in floral δ13C values, influenced by altitudinal differences in water availability, while nitrogen isotope...
Identifying and applying a "canopy effect" as a marker for deforestation: stable isotope analysis of small artiodactyl and rodent fauna from hunter-gatherer sites in Central Africa (2015)
Applying stable carbon isotopic analyses to discern anthropogenic and natural deforestation events is both useful and important to current deforestation and landscape modification research. The goal of this project is to identify a shift in δ13C content of mammalian teeth caused by the thinning of canopied forests using the "canopy effect" hypothesis. This pilot study tests the merits of the canopy effect hypothesis as applied to deforestation signatures using two extant village sites on the...
The Impact of Fishing and Transportation Technologies on Nineteenth-Century Fisheries and Fish Supply in New Orleans, Louisiana (2024)
This is an abstract from the "*SE New Orleans and Its Environs: Historical Archaeology and Environmental Precarity" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper examines fish supply in late nineteenth-century New Orleans to understand how new fishing and transportation technologies transformed fish trade networks in the Gulf of Mexico and beyond. Previous research has demonstrated temporal and geographic shifts in the city’s fish supply, and we...
Implications of Stable Isotope Values from the Skyrocket Site (CA-Cal-629/630) (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This poster summarizes the analysis of 60 AMS 14C dates, including the associated stable isotopes of delta 13C, delta 15N, and delta 34S for human burials from the Skyrocket archaeological site (CA-Cal-629/630). Located 40 miles east of Stockton, California, these burials span a period in which there was a change in subsistence, as evidenced by material...
The Influence of Pastoral Cultivation Strategies and Novel Cuisines on Newly Introduced Crops in Central Asia during the Bronze and Iron Ages (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. When crops are spread into new landscapes, communities, and their associated subsistence practices and culinary preferences, the crops undergo substantial selective pressure. This pressure can come in the form of new environmental constraints, such as a different growing season, or cultural pressure from differences in preferred taste, productivity, or...
Integrating Isotopic Data across Ancient Anatolia for Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction (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 increased availability of stable isotope data has made it possible to carry out comparative studies across space and time. In this paper, we review published and unpublished stable oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen isotope data derived from zooarchaeological, archaeobotanical, and bioarchaeological remains across...
Investigating Camelid Herding Strategies in the South-Central Andes Using Stable Isotope Analysis (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Pastoral practices shape the responses of herders to environmental and sociopolitical changes. This paper uses stable isotope analysis to examine camelid herding strategies from pastoral settlements in the south-central Andes during a period characterized by climatic and political changes (8th-15th century CE). Samples from archaeological sites in Peru and...
Investigating Genetic Structure and Dietary Ecology through Ancient DNA and Stable Isotopic Analysis of Prehistoric Dogs from San Nicolas Island, California (2015)
The study of prehistoric dogs has become a global trend. Not only did they fulfill a variety of roles and were an important part of past human societies, but they can be used to understand human-modified environments and human movement. On the California Channel Islands the domestic dog has been shown to be a significant component of the archaeological record. Dogs are uncovered in a variety of cultural contexts and their presence on the islands dates to the middle Holocene. Despite their...
Investigating prehistoric fisheries: growth-band and stable isotope analyses on otoliths of a critically endangered species (Totoaba macdonaldi) in the upper Gulf of California, Mexico. (2017)
Over 700 fish otoliths were recovered during archaeological excavations at the Rancho Punta Estrella sites on the northern Gulf coast of the Baja Peninsula of Mexico; over 120 of these have been identified as totoaba (Totoaba macdonaldi, Sciaenidae), a critically endangered species due to pressures from commercial fishing and human alterations of the Colorado River. AMS radiocarbon dates on seven totoaba otoliths suggest two primary occupations at ~4900-5400 cal BP and ~800-1150 cal BP. This...
Investigating Turkey Husbandry on the Chacoan Frontier: Stable Isotope Results from Three Pueblo II Great House Communities in West Central New Mexico (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Current Research on Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) Domestication, Husbandry and Management in North America and Beyond" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Growing research in animal domestication in the prehistoric western hemisphere has revealed a complex relationship between humans and the only originally domesticated animal in North America, the turkey (Meleagris gallopavo). Research suggests reasons for turkey...
Isotopic Analysis of Dietary Variation at Casas Grandes, Mexico (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Stable isotope analysis of prehistoric human remains has complemented other dietary reconstruction techniques for many years. It provides biologically-based data that allow an examination of what was actually consumed. Using 70 individuals from Paquimé and 14 from the nearby Convento site, we examine whether bone collagen δ13C and δ15N values are correlated...