Challenges and Future Directions in Plant Stable Isotope Analysis in Archaeology
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Challenges and Future Directions in Plant Stable Isotope Analysis in Archaeology," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
This session aims to bring together researchers that have carried out methodological advancements in and applied the technique of plant stable isotope analysis to answer questions regarding the impact of past climate and agriculture on human societies. Experimental studies have provided us with a glimpse of the interpretative potential of plant carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) values and strontium ratios (87Sr/86Sr) for understanding ancient crop cultivation practices. The application of stable isotope analysis in archaeobotany has been accompanied by debates on the issues of charring, preservation, and contamination, but no rules have yet been set for identifying unreliable samples. In this session, the contributors are encouraged to discuss the challenges that they have faced with sampling, analyzing and interpreting ancient plant materials. The focus will be on identifying methodological avenues that necessitate further investigation and on better defining the boundaries of interpretation of crop stable isotope analysis within archaeology.
Other Keywords
Paleoethnobotany •
Subsistence and Foodways •
Neolithic •
Experimental Archaeology •
Stable Isotopes •
Iron Age •
Agroecology •
Andes: Formative •
Environment and Climate •
Andes: Middle Horizon
Geographic Keywords
Republic of Turkey (Country) •
Republic of Armenia (Country) •
Georgia (Country) •
Republic of Peru (Country) •
French Republic (Country) •
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Nort (Country) •
Ireland (Country) •
Isle of Man (Country) •
Kingdom of Belgium (Country) •
Bailiwick of Guernsey (Country)
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-6 of 6)
- Documents (6)
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Agricultural Practices in the Atacama Desert (Northern Chile): New Perspectives from Stable Isotope Analysis on Archaeological Crops (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Challenges and Future Directions in Plant Stable Isotope Analysis in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Agricultural practice began in arid northern Chile during the Formative Period just prior to 1000 yr BC. Unusually, preservation of crops, including maize, squash, quinoa and beans is excellent due to the extremely arid conditions that characterise the Atacama Desert. In order to explore crop management,...
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From Present-Day Fields to Ancient Samples…and Back Again: Strategies for Establishing Principles of Interpretation in Plant Stable Isotope Work (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Challenges and Future Directions in Plant Stable Isotope Analysis in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Plant stable isotope analysis presents a series of ‘middle range’ challenges for archaeologists, but also unique opportunities for reconstructing ancient agroecologies. Here we focus on the potential and limitations of modern crop studies for informing interpretation of archaeobotanical cereal and pulse...
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Identifying Crop Rotation during the Early Medieval Period in England: Charring Temperature, Contamination and Isotopic Boundaries (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Challenges and Future Directions in Plant Stable Isotope Analysis in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Farming practice changed in Medieval England, allowing a dramatic increase in cereal production. Historical documents describe 13th century agricultural practices as open-field collective farming including three-field crop rotation and use of the heavy plough. Our research investigates how and when such...
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The Nitrogen Challenge at Çatalhöyük (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Challenges and Future Directions in Plant Stable Isotope Analysis in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopic values of archaeobotanical remains from the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük have presented us with a series of challenges for interpreting ancient crop management systems in a complex environment. An exceptionally wide range of δ15N values (0 to 18‰) obtained...
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Post-Charring Bacterial Degradation of Archaeological Lentils by Bacterial Degradation (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Challenges and Future Directions in Plant Stable Isotope Analysis in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. According to common knowledge, the preservation of stable isotope values in archaeological seeds requires that they be charred at low temperatures, because charring reorganizes sugar and protein polypeptides into stable Maillard reaction products. Charred seeds are understood to be resistant to diagenetic...
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Stable Isotope Analysis of Charred and Desiccated Plant Remains from the North Coast of Peru (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Challenges and Future Directions in Plant Stable Isotope Analysis in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. One of the key findings of early work that utilized isotopic analysis of macrobotanical remains was that charred remains seemed to produce reliable isotopic measurements, while uncharred (desiccated) remains did not. This early research contrasted charred remains from the highlands of Peru with uncharred...