Search results for "Stable isotope ratio"

Anthropic resource exploitation and use of the territory at the onset of social complexity in the Neolithic-Chalcolithic Western Pyrenees: a multi-is…

2018

Carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope analyses from bone collagen provide information about the dietary protein input, while strontium isotopes (87Sr/86Sr) from tooth enamel give us data about provenance and potential territorial mobility of past populations. To date, isotopic results on the prehistory of the Western Pyrenees are scarce. In this article, we report human and faunal values of the mentioned isotopes from the Early-Middle Neolithic site of Fuente Hoz (Anuntzeta) and the Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic site of Kurtzebide (Letona, Zigoitia). The main objectives of this work are to analyse the dietary and territorial mobility patterns of these populations. Furthermore…

The stable isotope composition of organic and inorganic fossils in lake sediment records: current understanding, challenges, and future directions

2018

This paper provides an overview of stable isotope analysis (H, C, N, O, Si) of the macro- and microscopic remains from aquatic organisms found in lake sediment records and their application in (palaeo)environmental science. Aquatic organisms, including diatoms, macrophytes, invertebrates, and fish, can produce sufficiently robust remains that preserve well as fossils and can be identified in lake sediment records. Stable isotope analyses of these remains can then provide valuable insights into habitat-specific biogeochemistry, feeding ecology, but also on climatic and hydrological changes in and around lakes. Since these analyses focus on the remains of known and identified organisms, they …

Effects of cooking on mollusk shell structure and chemistry: Implications for archeology and paleoenvironmental reconstruction

2016

Mollusk shells excavated from archeological sites have been used to reconstruct paleoenvironment, human foraging, and migratory patterns. To retrieve information on past environment or human behavior, chemical signatures such as oxygen stable isotopes (δ18Oshell) are analyzed. Shell archeological remains usually represent food waste. Thermal treatments such as boiling and roasting may influence shell structure and biochemical composition. However, little is known about the relationship between changes at macro-, microstructural and chemical levels. This work is a calibration study on modern Phorcus (Osilinus) turbinatus shells. A simulation of two different cooking methods (boiling and roas…

Stone-age subsistence strategies at Lake Burtnieks, Latvia

2018

Abstract Zvejnieki, on Lake Burtnieks in northeastern Latvia, is the largest known prehistoric cemetery in the eastern Baltic; > 300 inhumations, most dating to c.7000–3000 cal BC, have been excavated. Archaeozoological and artefactual evidence from graves and nearby settlement layers show that throughout this period, the community depended on wild resources for subsistence, with a particular emphasis on fishing. Dietary stable isotopes (δ 15 N and δ 13 C) from human remains show significant dietary variation within the Zvejnieki population, in terms of access to and dependence on freshwater and marine species (Eriksson 2006); we provide new stable isotope data for another 13 individuals. E…

No Age Trends in Oak Stable Isotopes

2020

The SISAL database: a global resource to document oxygen and carbon isotope records from speleothems

2018

Stable isotope records from speleothems provide information on past climate changes, most particularly information that can be used to reconstruct past changes in precipitation and atmospheric circulation. These records are increasingly being used to provide “out-of-sample” evaluations of isotope-enabled climate models. SISAL (Speleothem Isotope Synthesis and Analysis) is an international working group of the Past Global Changes (PAGES) project. The working group aims to provide a comprehensive compilation of speleothem isotope records for climate reconstruction and model evaluation. The SISAL database contains data for individual speleothems, grouped by cave system. Stable isotopes of oxyg…

Rhinocerotid tooth enamel 18O/16O variability between 23 and 12 Ma in southwestern France.

2006

Abstract The relationship between the oxygen isotope ratio of mammal tooth enamel and that of drinking water was used to reconstruct changes in the Miocene oxygen isotope ratio of rainfall (meteoric water δ 18 O MW ). These, in turn, are related to climatic parameters (temperature, precipitation and evaporation rate). δ 18 O values of rhinocerotid teeth from the Aquitaine Basin (southwestern France) suggest a significant climatic change between 17 and 12 Ma, characterized by cooling together with precipitation increase, in agreement with other terrestrial and oceanic records. To cite this article: I. Bentaleb et al., C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006).

Carbon, nitrogen and oxygen isotope fractionation during food cooking: Implications for the interpretation of the fossil human record.

2017

13 pages; International audience; ObjectivesStable isotope data provide insight into the reconstruction of ancient human diet. However, cooking may alter the original stable isotope compositions of food due to losses and modifications of biochemical and water components.MethodsTo address this issue, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen isotope ratios were measured on meat aliquots sampled from various animals such as pork, beef, duck and chicken, and also from the flesh of fishes such as salmon, European seabass, European pilchard, sole, gilt-head bream, and tuna. For each specimen, three pieces were cooked according to the three most commonly-known cooking practices: boiling, frying and roasting on…

Bone diagenesis in arid environments; An intra-skeletal approach

2014

Bone trace element content and isotopic composition are closely related to human nutrition. The investigation of archaeological bone geochemistry can help us to better understand the relationship between past populations and their environment alongside cultural practices as inferred from dietary reconstruction. However, dietary in- formation may be altered post-mortem by diagenetic processes in soil. In this study, bone mineralogy (Ca/P, sec- ondary minerals, organic matter content and bone apatite crystallinity), histology, element content (Mg, Na, F, Sr, Ba, Mn, Fe, La, Ce and U) and stable isotope composition (δ13Candδ18O carbonate) were investigated at the intra- individual scale in ord…

Highly-resolved radiocarbon measurements on shells from Kalba, UAE, using carbonate handling system and gas ion source with MICADAS

2019

Abstract The Mini Carbon Dating System (MICADAS) represents a flexible AMS system for measuring radiocarbon samples either in the form of graphite or CO2 gas. We used the possibility to attach a carbonate handling system (CHS) to the gas ion source (GIS) to measure smaller amounts of carbonates (  3) are used to clean the system. We tested the CHS-GIS combination on heated and unheated archaeological shells of Anadara uropigimelana from Kalba, Sharjah Emirate, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Even though the amount of carbon in the samples was small (4–22 µg C) the performance of the CO2 dating system permits the comparison of trends in the 14C data to stable isotope measurements (δ18O and δ13C)…