Search results for "Isotope Analysis"

Biological and physical modification of carbonate system parameters along the salinity gradient in shallow hypersaline solar salterns in Trapani, Ita…

2017

Abstract We investigated changes in the chemical characteristics of evaporating seawater under the influence of microbial activity by conducting geochemical analyses of the brines and evaporite sediments collected from solar salterns in Trapani, Italy. The microbial activity had a substantial effect on the carbonate system parameters. Dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) was substantially removed from the brine during the course of evaporation from the seawater to the point where calcium carbonate precipitates, with an accompanying decrease in its carbon isotopic composition (δ 13 C DIC ) to as low as −10.6‰. Although the removal of DIC was due to calcium carbonate precipitation, photosynthesis…

Sr-isotope analysis of speleothems by LA-MC-ICP-MS: High temporal resolution and fast data acquisition

2017

Speleothems are well established climate archives. A wide array of geochemical proxies, including stable isotopes and trace elements are present within speleothems to reconstruct past climate variability. However, each proxy is influenced by multiple factors, often hampering robust interpretation. Sr isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) can provide useful information about water residence time and water mixing in the host rock, as they are not fractionated during calcite precipitation. Laser ablation multi-collector-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-MC-ICP-MS) has rarely been used for determination of Sr isotope signatures in speleothems, as speleothems often do not possess appropriate…

A Community in Life and Death: The Late Neolithic Megalithic Tomb at Alto de Reinoso (Burgos, Spain)

2016

The analysis of the human remains from the megalithic tomb at Alto de Reinoso represents the widest integrative study of a Neolithic collective burial in Spain. Combining archaeology, osteology, molecular genetics and stable isotope analysis (87Sr/86Sr, δ15N, δ13C) it provides a wealth of information on the minimum number of individuals, age, sex, body height, pathologies, mitochondrial DNA profiles, kinship relations, mobility, and diet. The grave was in use for approximately one hundred years around 3700 cal BC, thus dating from the Late Neolithic of the Iberian chronology. At the bottom of the collective tomb, six complete and six partial skeletons lay in anatomically correct positions. …

Reconstructing Bronze Age diets and farming strategies at the early Bronze Age sites of La Bastida and Gatas (southeast Iberia) using stable isotope …

2020

The El Argar society of the Bronze Age in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula (2200–1550 cal BCE) was among the first complex societies in Europe. Its economy was based on cereal cultivation and metallurgy, it was organized hierarchically, and successively expanded its territory. Most of the monumentally fortified settlements lay on steeply sloped mountains, separated by fertile plains, and allowed optimal control of the area. Here, we explore El Argar human diets, animal husbandry strategies, and food webs using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of charred cereal grains as well as human and animal bone collagen. The sample comprised 75 human individuals from the sites of La Ba…

Beyond the grave: variability in Neolithic diets in Southern Germany?

2006

Abstract Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses were undertaken on human and faunal remains from two Neolithic sites in Southern Germany; the LBK settlement at Herxheim and the middle Neolithic cemetery at Trebur. Stable isotope data were used to reconstruct the diets of individuals buried at these sites and to look at dietary variation between groups classified by their sex, age, grave goods and cultural affiliation. Overall there was surprisingly little variation in the diet between the groups, as described by the stable isotope analysis, despite significant differences in the composition of grave goods. Also surprising, considering the archaeological evidence for extensive grain cul…

Early Neolithic diet and animal husbandry: stable isotope evidence from three Linearbandkeramik (LBK) sites in Central Germany

2011

Abstract The first appearance of the Neolithic Linearbandkeramik (LBK) in Central Germany occurred during the 6th millennium BC. However, though LBK sites are abundant in the German loess areas, there are only a few studies that reconstruct the diet of these first farmers using biochemical methods. Here we present the largest study undertaken to date on LBK material using stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen to reconstruct human diet and animal husbandry strategies. We analyzed the bone collagen of 97 human individuals and 45 associated animals from the sites of Derenburg, Halberstadt and Karsdorf in the Middle Elbe–Saale region of Central Germany. Mean adult human values are −19.…

Climate controls on the Holocene development of a subarctic lake in northern Fennoscandia

2015

International audience; Climate exerts strong control over the functioning of northern freshwater ecosystems, yet their resilience and responses to climate forcing may vary. We examined postglacial development patterns in subarctic Lake Varddoaijavri to discern the impact of direct climate controls, catchment influence, and ontogenic processes on the ecological functioning of the lake over the Holocene. Subfossil diatom assemblages together with the elemental and stable isotopic (delta C-13, delta N-15) composition of sediment organic matter were used to examine climate-induced changes in the structure of the phototrophic community and transport of terrestrial organic matter from the catchm…

Dental calculus is not equivalent to bone collagen for isotope analysis: a comparison between carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of bulk den…

2014

Palaeodietary reconstruction using the carbon and nitrogen isotope values of bone and dentine collagen is a well-established method and the biochemical processes involved are well known. Researchers have recently explored using bulk samples of dental calculus as a substitute for bone and dentine collagen in dietary analyses, because calculus can be sampled without causing damage to the teeth, and may be useful in situations where more destructive analyses are not possible, or where collagen is poorly preserved. Several questions remain about the use of bulk calculus as a source of carbon and nitrogen isotope data, however. It is not yet clear how much of an individual¿s life span dental cal…

2008

Abstract. Sulfur isotope analysis of atmospheric aerosols is a well established tool for identifying sources of sulfur in the atmosphere, estimating emission factors, and tracing the spread of sulfur from anthropogenic sources through ecosystems. Conventional gas mass spectrometry averages the isotopic compositions of several different types of sulfur aerosol particles, and therefore masks the individual isotopic signatures. In contrast, the new single particle technique presented here determines the isotopic signature of the individual particles. Primary aerosol particles retain the original isotopic signature of their source. The isotopic composition of secondary sulfates depends on the i…

Dental disease and dietary isotopes of individuals from St Gertrude Church cemetery, Riga, Latvia.

2018

This research explores oral health indicators and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data to explore diet, and differences in diet, between people buried in the four different contexts of the St Gertrude Church cemetery (15th– 17th centuries AD): the general cemetery, two mass graves, and a collective mass burial pit within the general cemetery. The main aim is to assess whether people buried in the mass graves were rural immigrants, or if they were more likely to be the victims of plague (or another epidemic) who lived in Riga and its suburbs. The data produced (from dental disease assessments and isotope analyses) were compared within, as well as between, the contexts. Most differences em…