Isotopic dietary analysis of a Neanderthal and associated fauna from the site of Jonzac (Charente-Maritime), France (original) (raw)
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Journal of human …, 2008
We report here on the isotopic analysis (carbon and nitrogen) of collagen extracted from a Neanderthal tooth and animal bone from the late Mousterian site of Jonzac (Charente-Maritime, France). This study was undertaken to test whether the isotopic evidence indicates that animal protein was the main source of dietary protein for this relatively late Neanderthal, as suggested by previous studies. This was of particular interest here because this is the first isotopic study of a relatively late Neanderthal associated with Mousterian of Acheulian Tradition (MTA, dating to approximately 55,000 to 40,000 BP) technology. We found that the Jonzac Neanderthal had isotopic values consistent with a diet in which the main protein sources were large herbivores, particularly bovids and horses. We also found evidence of different dietary niches between the Neanderthal and a hyena at the site, with the hyena consuming mainly reindeer.
Journal of Human Evolution, 2005
The carbon and nitrogen isotopic abundances of the collagen extracted from the Saint-Ce´saire I Neanderthal have been used to infer the dietary behaviour of this specimen. A review of previously published Neanderthal collagen isotopic signatures with the addition of 3 new collagen isotopic signatures from specimens from Les Pradelles allows us to compare the dietary habits of 5 Neanderthal specimens from OIS 3 and one specimen from OIS 5c. This comparison points to a trophic position as top predator in an open environment, with little variation through time and space. In addition, a comparison of the Saint-Ce´saire I Neanderthal with contemporaneous hyaenas has been performed using a multi-source mixing model, modified from Phillips and Gregg (2003, Oecologia 127, 171). It appears that the isotopic differences between the Neanderthal specimen and hyaenas can be accounted for by much lower amounts of reindeer and much higher amounts of woolly rhinoceros and woolly mammoth in the dietary input of the Neanderthal specimen than in that of hyaenas, with relatively similar contributions of bovinae, large deer and horse for both predators,
Diet and behavior of the Saint-Césaire Neanderthal inferred from biogeochemical data inversion
Journal of Human Evolution, 2006
Biogeochemistry is a powerful tool for dietary reconstruction, and mixing equations can be used to quantify the contribution of multiple sources to an individual's diet. The goals of this paper are: 1) to generalize the inverse method to dietary mixtures; and 2) to reconstruct the diet of the Saint-Césaire Neanderthal using Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca data of the mineral fraction of bone (hydroxylapatite), and with published d 13 C and d 15 N data of the associated organic fraction of bone (collagen). A new method is proposed to calculate the maximum diagenetic contribution of the Sr/Ba ratio, assuming that the soil soluble fraction is the diagenetic end-member and, for a given fraction of diagenesis, allows the restoration of the original Sr/Ba ratio. Considering the Saint-Césaire Châtelperronian mammalian assemblage as the meat source, and on the basis of available Sr, Ba, and Ca contents of plants, the results indicate that the percentage of plants in the Neanderthal's diet must have been close to zero for realistic Sr and Ba impoverishment between diet and hydroxylapatite. Contrary to previous studies, it is shown that fish could constitute a significant proportion (30%) of the diet of the Saint-Césaire Neanderthal. However, this mass balance solution is not supported by the zooarchaeological data. When the entire faunal assemblage is considered as the dietary source, the calculation shows that bovids (except reindeer) represent the greatest percentage of consumed meat (58%), followed by horses/rhinoceros (22%), reindeer (13%), and mammoths (7%). These respective percentages are in close accordance with zooarchaeological records, suggesting that the faunal assemblage associated with the Neanderthal of Saint-Césaire reliably reflects what he ate during the last few years of his life. In behavioral terms, this result supports the hypothesis that this Neanderthal carried the foodstuffs back to the Saint-Césaire shelter before their consumption.
The site of Payre (SE France) is presented as a case study to decipher possible changes in subsistence and land-use strategies during the middle Pleistocene in Europe. This study applies carbon and oxygen isotopic data (d 13 C and d 18 O) in dental tooth enamel from four distinct Middle Pleistocene Neanderthals coming from two phases of occupation. This allows us to test if these different Neanderthals were similar in their subsistence strategies and mobility during their childhood, and to compare them with terrestrial predators and to herbivores dwelling in different areas around the cave. The results show that Nean-derthals were exploiting the environment differently over time in the absence of a significant environmental change. This change of environment exploitation coincides with different durations of occupation. The age of the individuals allows us to discuss the mobility of young Neanderthals and the topographies they lived on before arriving in the cave. The combination of results obtained from various approaches throws a new light on the investigation of Neanderthal ecosystem and land-use patterns during the Early Middle Palaeolithic in Southeastern France.