Stable isotope (Other Keyword)
1-14 (14 Records)
Modern climate and ecological data from the Northern Chihuahuan Desert suggests that precipitation is temporally and spatially localized leading to pulses of plant production. Regional paleo-environmental models have been developed that focus on large temporal and spatial scales. These scales obscure short-term human adaptation within this region. We present a study of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes of bone collagen from leporids that can provide a high-resolution proxy for aspects of the...
Bioarchaeology, Barbados, Eastern Caribbean: Isotopic Analyses of Teeth and Bone from Human Remains (2015)
Bioarchaeological studies have grown in sophistication and are now helping test assumptions about island garden agriculture (palm, cassava and/or maize) and the relative contributions of marine proteins. Bone and teeth samples from five sites on Barbados were processed by Center for Applied Isotopic Studies, University of Georgia and data are reported for δ13Cco, δ13Cca, δ15Nco, and δ18Oap. Stable isotope ratios, adjusted ratios, and apatite-collagen spacing correspond with results from...
The burials of Tibes, reconsidered (2016)
The 1970s Tibes excavations of the Sociedad Guaynía unearthed the remains of well over one hundred individuals from various portions of what is currently understood to be the earliest ceremonial center in the Caribbean. Despite attempts to avoid burials, more recent (and ongoing) excavations by the Proyecto Arqueológico del Centro Ceremonial Indígena de Tibes have increased this number to a modest degree. Taken together, the resulting corpus of bioarchaeological material represents one of the...
A cod-awful smell: Novel evidence for fisheries management and land use at 17-18th century Ferryland and its social, economic, and sensorial implications (2015)
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Pool Plantation at Ferryland, Newfoundland was a major commercial fishing port and regional seat of power. Turbulence during the Anglo-French wars (1689-1713) resulted in the destruction of the settlement. Though the site is rich in archaeology, little evidence exists to explore how these events changed the community’s physical, economic, and social infrastructure. This poster describes an approach to identifying patterns in past land-use by...
A Commensal-Prey Relationship in Early Mainland Southeast Asia? The Case of the Burmese Hare (Lepus peguensis) (2018)
Rabbits and hares are often a central part of human subsistence strategies in both the past and the present. However, the Burmese hare (Lepus peguensis) – the sole member of the family Leporidae indigenous to mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA) – is rarely eaten today, and its status in the past is unclear. Although this taxon is currently abundant across a wide geographic range, it has a poor zooarchaeological record during the Pleistocene and Holocene. Identified specimens occur sporadically in...
The Effects of Different Defleshing Practices on δ13C and δ15N of Modern Faunal Bulk Bone Collagen (2017)
Stable isotope values obtained from modern faunal skeletal material often provide important comparative data in zooarchaeological investigations of past food-web dynamics and human-animal interactions. Unlike archaeological material, modern faunal material requires additional time-consuming preparatory work prior to analysis (i.e. defleshing). Cooking and the application of proteolytic enzyme are quick and effective methods, but it is unclear if these techniques alter original bone collagen...
Isotopic analyses of predatory pelagic fishes show significant environmental change in Lake Ontario following European settlement (2017)
Isotopic analyses of archaeological faunal remains can add significant temporal depth to modern and historical baseline data, which play an important role in understanding present and future environmental change. In this paper, we use stable nitrogen isotope analyses of archaeological (A.D. 1000-1900) bone collagen of pelagic predators, such as lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) and whitefishes (Coregonus sp.), as a proxy measure for environmental changes in Lake Ontario over time. Results show...
Isotopic Analysis of Dietary Variation in Formative Period Chile (2015)
Northern Chile's Atacama Desert is one of the driest environments on Earth. In fact, it has been suggested that the region serves as a good model for living conditions on Mars. By employing a number of resource management strategies including complex systems of trade, humans have lived in the inhospitable region for millennia. Here we present the results of stable isotope analysis of seven Formative Period (1500 B.C.-A.D. 500) humans from the Ancachi site near the modern town of Quillagua....
Modeling Bronze Age Isoscapes in the Eurasian steppe: Identifying subtle variation in pastoral diet and mobility (2015)
Isotopic investigations of ancient materials often lack the robust isotopic baselines necessary for comparative analyses. A paucity of isotopic data for baseline ecology creates gaps in our knowledge and allows for multiple interpretations of prehistoric practices. This is especially true for the Eurasian steppe, where isotopic values have been used to consider long-distance human migrations without sufficient baselines. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to use an innovative approach in...
Spatial Pattern of δ18O Water Isotope in the Argentinean Central West: Their Potential to Model Human Mobility at Archaeological Scale (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper presents the δ18O isotopes results based on a new southern Mendoza water sampling. Using GIS the δ18O isotope information from water sources is modeled in regional isoscapes. With this baseline we discuss human mobility, analyzing three archaeological cases. In total 92 water source samples from rivers, creeks, springs, snow, lagoons, and water...
Stable isotopic (δ13C and δ18O) and zooarchaeological insights into vertical transhumance of early Neolithic domesticated sheep and goats in southern Jordan (2017)
Vertical transhumance provides livestock with consistent access to quality graze throughout the year and likely contributed to the intensification of livestock husbandry in the Near East over ten thousand years ago. Here, carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) isotopic time series obtained from sequentially sampled domesticated and wild herbivore teeth recovered from late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (ninth millennium cal BP) settlements, each located in the sharply divergent elevations of southern Jordan,...
Stable Isotopic and Radiocarbon Analysis of Neolithic and Bronze Age Fisher-Hunter Gatherers from Lake Baikal’s Little Sea, Upper Lena River, and Selenga River Regions (2017)
The diet of prehistoric hunter-gatherers in the Lake Baikal Region has been extensively studied using stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic analyses. This paper extends this work, reporting new carbon and nitrogen stable isotope and AMS radiocarbon dating results from the cemeteries of Verkholensk (n=45) in the Upper Lena micro-region; Ulan-Khada II–V (n=19) in the Little Sea micro-region; and Fofanovo (n=22) in the Selenga micro-region. The latter analyses represent the first stable isotopic data...
Subsistence variations and landscape use of marine foragers in southern South America. New perspectives from an isotopic zooarchaeology (2017)
Predictions based on resource distribution and abundance throughout patches (i.e. patch choice model) are critical to model human-specific decisions. However, information about past abundance or distribution of preys is rare, and archaeological evaluations are normally based on modern ecological parameters. This procedure can face some problems since species distributions are likely to have fluctuated along time as a consequence of different environmental factors, or as the product of human...
The Underestimated Utilization of Aquatic Resources in Neolithic Northern China: Evidence from Stable Isotopes (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Resources and Society in Ancient China" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. There is no doubt that millet farming and pig husbandry were the dominant subsistence practices in late Neolithic northern China. However, wild resources, such as foraged fruits and nuts, shells, and hunted wild animals, also contributed substantially to people’s diet at this time. Wild resources, especially aquatic resources, are sometimes...