Intra- and inter-tooth variation in strontium isotope ratios from prehistoric seals by laser ablation multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (original) (raw)
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Journal of Archaeological Science Reports, 2021
Exploitation of aquatic resources, especially fishing, was a fundamental part of human subsistence during the Late Mesolithic Ertebølle culture (5400-4000/3900 cal BC) in Southern Scandinavia. In this pilot study we examine three cod otoliths from two Late Mesolithic locations in eastern Denmark to see whether local environmental conditions are reflected in the strontium ratios of the fish, to source the fish to either the Atlantic or the Baltic Sea and finally, to explore how fishing was conducted in relation to the settlements. We used laser ablation multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for sequential sampling of the otoliths for strontium isotope analysis. All three otoliths yielded 87 Sr/ 86 Sr values that fall within the range of Baltic Sea water, thus indicating that cod caught by Mesolithic fishers in the Danish straits belonged to the Baltic Sea stock. Our results suggest that cod were not caught in waters immediately adjacent to the archaeological sites but rather came from the Kattegat. We could not detect any substantial change in habitat between juvenile and mature stages of the fishś lives. Our study shows the potential of isotopic analysis to address issues regarding the individual ecological history of fish and human fishing strategies.
In this paper, we investigate the potential use of oxygen and strontium isotope ratios (d 18 O p and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) measured in archaeological fish enamel as provenance indicators. d 18 O p and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr were measured in a suite of archaeological carp remains recovered from the Anatolian townsite of Sagalassos dated to the Early Byzantine period (AD 450e650) and compared to that of modern fish, river and lake waters from the Anatolian region. We used sequential leaches in weak acetic acid to remove diagenetic Sr from fossil tooth enamel, monitoring the effectiveness of this approach by measuring the Sr/Ca ratios of the leachates via an isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry method (ID-TIMS). d 18 O p values mostly excluded a riverine origin. 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios of one fish overlapped with the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr signatures of two lakes in the Anatolian region, and at least one lake (Gölcük) could be removed as a candidate owing to a very distinctive 87 Sr/ 86 Sr signature not found in any of the fish remains. Most of the tooth samples analyzed could not be assigned a precise geographical origin since the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios measured in enamel did not match that of any of the local lakes selected as potential origin. This result suggests that carp may have originated from lakes that have not yet been sampled, although this conclusion is not supported by other archaeological evidence. Alternatively, the lack of correspondence between lakes and fish Sr isotope ratios highlights several possible sources of uncertainties including spatial heterogeneity in 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratio within a lake, the contribution of dietary strontium to the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratio of fish tooth enamel, and post-mortem alteration of the tooth Sr isotope signal during fossilization. In spite of the high precision of the strontium isotope analyses and the wide range of variation in the surface waters of the Anatolian lakes and rivers, this method may remain limited to distinguishing between lakes situated in regions of bedrock of very distinct age and geology until these sources of uncertainty are more fully investigated.
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2011
Strontium isotope analysis of skeletal material as a means to reconstruct prehistoric residential patterns has previously mainly been applied to populations with terrestrial diets. Here we present a model for populations with mixed marine/terrestrial diets, which is based on two-component mixing of strontium isotopes. Applying this model, we can estimate the original strontium isotope value of the terrestrial component of the diet. Accordingly it is possible to identify non-local individuals even if they had a mixed marine/terrestrial diet. The model is applied to tooth enamel samples representing nine individuals recovered from a passage grave in Resmo, on the island of Öland in the Baltic Sea, where at least five non-local individuals, representing at least two different geographical regions of origin, were identified. Non-local individuals were more frequent during the Bronze Age than during previous phases.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
To evaluate the possibility of obtaining detailed individual mobility data from archaeological teeth, the strontium isotope ratios on 28 human teeth from three separate Early-Mid Holocene, Swedish, foraging contexts (Norje Sunnansund, Skateholm and Västerbjers) were analysed through laser ablation. The teeth/individuals have previously been analysed using traditional bulk sampled thermal ionisation mass spectrometry. To validate the conclusions regarding the archaeological teeth, a tooth from a modern man with a known background was also analysed. The result shows that all of the teeth display less than 0.4% discrepancy between the mean values of the laser ablation profiles and the previously published bulk data and 25 (89%) of the teeth display less than a 0.2% discrepancy. By calculating linear and polynomial trendlines for each ablated tooth, it was possible to illustrate a strong correlation for the transition pattern between the measurements when following a chronological seque...
Erika Weiberg, Ingmar Unkel, Maria Andwinge, Anton Bonnier, Christos Katrantsiotis, Adam Izdebski, S. Stocker, Martin Finné, Karin Holmgren, Flint Dibble, Katerina Kouli
Special Issue: Mediterranean Holocene Climate, Environment and Human Societies, 2016
Published archaeological, palaeoenvironmental, and palaeoclimatic data from the Peloponnese in Greece are compiled, discussed and evaluated in order to analyse the interactions between humans and the environment over the last 9000 years. Our study indicates that the number of human settlements found scattered over the peninsula have quadrupled from the prehistoric to historical periods and that this evolution occurred over periods of climate change and seismo–tectonic activity. We show that societal development occurs both during periods of harsh as well as favourable climatic conditions. At some times, some settlements develop while others decline. Well-known climate events such as the 4.2 ka and 3.2 ka events are recognizable in some of the palaeoclimatic records and a regional decline in the number and sizes of settlements occurs roughly at the same time, but their precise chronological fit with the archaeological record remains uncertain. Local socio-political processes were probably always the key drivers behind the diverse strategies that human societies took in times of changing climate. The study thus reveals considerable chronological parallels between societal development and palaeoenvironmental records, but also demonstrates the ambiguities in these correspondences and, in doing so, highlights some of the challenges that will face future interdisciplinary projects. We suggest that there can be no general association made between societal expansion phases and periods of advantageous climate. We also propose that the relevance of climatic and environmental regionality, as well as any potential impacts of seismo-tectonics on societal development, need to be part of the interpretative frameworks. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Exploring the potential of the strontium isotope tracing system in Denmark
Migration and trade are issues important to the understanding of ancient cultures. There are many ways in which these topics can be investigated. This article provides an overview of a method based on an archaeological scientific methodology developed to address human and animal mobility in prehistory, the so-called strontium isotope tracing system. Recently, new research has enabled this methodology to be further developed so as to be able to apply it to archaeological textile remains and thus to address issues of textile trade.In the following section, a brief introduction to strontium isotopes in archaeology is presented followed by a state-of-the-art summary of the construction of a baseline to characterize Denmark’s bioavailable strontium isotope range. The creation of such baselines is a prerequisite to the application of the strontium isotope system for provenance studies, as they define the local range and thus provide the necessary background to potentially identify individ...
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 120, 2013: pp 531-544
Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios (d13C and d15N) have been used widely in archaeology to investigate palaeodiet. Sulphur stable isotope ratios (d34S) have shown great promise in this regard but the potential of this technique within archaeological science has yet to be fully explored. Here we report d34S, d13C and d15N values for 129 samples of animal bone collagen from Skutustaðir, an early Viking age (landnam) settlement in north-east Iceland. This dataset represents the most comprehensive study to date of its kind on archaeological material and the results show a clear offset in d34S values between animals deriving their dietary resources from terrestrial (mean = +5.6 ± 2.8‰), freshwater (mean = 2.7 ± 1.4‰) or marine (mean = +15.9 ± 1.5‰) reservoirs (with the three food groups being significantly different at 2 sigma). This offset allows reconstruction of the dietary history of domesticated herbivores and demonstrates differences in husbandry practices and animal movement/trade, which would be otherwise impossible using only d13C and d15N values. For example, several terrestrial herbivores displayed enriched bone collagen d34S values compared to the geology of the Lake Myvatn region, indicating they may have been affected by sea-spray whilst being pastured closer to the coast, before being traded inland. Additionally, the combination of heavy d15N values coupled with light d34S values within pig bone collagen suggests that these omnivores were consuming freshwater fish as a significant portion of their diet. Arctic foxes were also found to be consuming large quantities of freshwater resources and radiocarbon dating of both the pigs and foxes confirmed previous studies showing that a large freshwater radiocarbon (14C) reservoir effect exists within the lake. Overall, these stable isotope and 14C data have important implications for obtaining a fuller reconstruction of the diets of the early Viking settlers in Iceland, and may allow a clearer identification of the marine and/or freshwater 14C reservoir effects that are known to exist in human bone collagen.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2017
We present 9 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates and 41 carbon and nitrogen stable isotope measurements on bone and tooth collagen from the Šventoji Subneolithic/ Neolithic sites and the Benaičiai cemetery, both in NW Lithuania. These data have led to a revised chronology and to the creation of a comprehensive stable isotope baseline for the Subneolithic and Neolithic periods at the SE Baltic coast. The Benaičiai cemetery has been AMS redated from the Late Bronze Age to the Neolithic, i.e., 2600/2500 cal BC. After a freshwater radiocarbon effect (FRE)/marine radiocarbon effect (MRE) correction to the AMS dates of isolated human bones found at the Šventoji sites, a date range of 3100-2600 cal BC was established. Stable isotope data obtained from isolated human bones from Subneolithic coastal sites indicate that these originated from a local Blagoonal^people who relied heavily on freshwater fish species despite the proximity to the Littorina Sea. Seals and terrestrial animals were only of secondary importance in terms of diet. A non-routed dietary model, with zooarchaeological priors included, created with the Bayesian package FRUITS gave results that were consistent with expected FRE/MRE offsets. Stable isotope data of two Benaičiai graves indicate a sharp dietary shift towards terrestrial protein that occurred between 2700 and 2500 cal BC in the Šventoji River basin. This is contemporaneous with the arrival of both Corded Ware Culture stockbreeders and the beginning of a natural and significant reduction in the productivity of lagoonal lake ecosystems.