Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes as tracers of change in diet breadth during Middle and Upper Palaeolithic in Europe (original) (raw)
Related papers
Stable isotope evidence for increasing dietary breadth in the European mid-Upper Paleolithic.
New carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values for human remains dating to the mid-Upper Paleolithic in Europe indicate significant amounts of aquatic (fish, mollusks, and͞or birds) foods in some of their diets. Most of this evidence points to exploitation of inland freshwater aquatic resources in particular. By contrast, European Neandertal collagen carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values do not indicate significant use of inland aquatic foods but instead show that they obtained the majority of their protein from terrestrial herbivores. In agreement with recent zooarcheological analyses, the isotope results indicate shifts toward a more broadspectrum subsistence economy in inland Europe by the mid-Upper Paleolithic period, probably associated with significant population increases.
World Archaeology
Aquatic resource exploitations in human evolution have raised many questions related to cognitive abilities and subsistence developments. It has been pointed out that the evaluation of freshwater resource consumption based on conventional stable CN isotopic composition of bulk bone collagen faces some difficulties, primarily because isotopic distinction between terrestrial and freshwater animals can be ambiguous and, even worse, can show similar values. In this study we tested the potential of nitrogen isotope analysis of individual amino acids in this evaluation. Our preliminary results for archaeological human and faunal remains from Mesolithic and Epipalaeolithic sites in France (Noyen-sur-Seine and Pont d’Ambon) show that estimated trophic positions for terrestrial animals based on δ15N of glutamic acid and phenylalanine are more precise than the bulk collagen isotopic method, allowing human aquatic resource consumptions to be identified. However, since the ability to quantify is still limited, a combination of several approaches is recommended.
Isotope evidence for the intensive use of marine foods by Late Upper Palaeolithic humans
Journal of Human Evolution, 2005
We report here on direct evidence for the intensive consumption of marine foods by anatomically modern humans at approximately 12,000 years ago. We undertook isotopic analysis of bone collagen from three humans, dating to the late Palaeolithic, from the site of Kendrick's Cave in North Wales, UK. The isotopic measurements of their bone collagen indicated that ca. 30% of their dietary protein was from marine sources, which we interpret as likely being high trophic level marine organisms such as marine mammals. This indicates that towards the end of the Pleistocene modern humans were pursuing a hunting strategy that incorporated both marine and terrestrial mammals. This is the first occurrence of the intensive use of marine resources, specifically marine mammals, that becomes even more pronounced in the subsequent Mesolithic period.
Stable carbon isotopes in deep time : the diets of fossil fauna and hominids
1989
This thesis describes the development, testing and application of a technique for extending carbon isotopic dietary tracing millions of years in time,. using the mineral phase of calcified tissues (apatite) as alternative sample material to collagen. The results reported here provide empirical evidence for the validity of the technique. Investigation of the isotopic relationships between diet, collagen and apatite, using a large sample of modem fauna with known diets, confirms that the isotopic relationship between collagen and apatite changes with trophic level. Thus, both collagen and apatite reflect dietary 13 C/ 12 C ratios, but the results support the hypothesis that different a.Spects of diet-protein and energy, respectively-are reflected by these tissues. IsotopiC analyses of apatite in archaeological dietary studies have been controversial due to argument about the effects of diagenesis on • the 13 C/ 12 C ratios. A comparison of apatite 13 Cj1 2 C ratios from a chronological ~eries of fossil browsers with those of modem browsers reveals a difference between the two which may largely be attributed to diagenesis. This difference increases predictably with time and cannot be eliminated by an acid pretreatment which removes calcite and a more soluble mineral phase. Despite the alteration, browsers and grazer,s are clearly distinguishable using enamel 13 Cj1 2 C ratios, ~ven after 3 rna. The technique is applied to three studies of the diets of extinct taxa. Firstly, the extinct springbok, Antidorcas bondi, is shown to have been a grazer, in contrast with the intermediate diet of its living relative, A. marsupia/is. Secondly, a comparison of two fossil baboons with browsers and grazers from Swartkrans Member 1, dating to approximately 1.8 rna, shows that the C 3-based diet of Papio robinsoni is clearly distinct from the graminivorous (C 4) di~t of Theropithecus darti. Thirdly, results for Australopithecus robustus enamel specimens from Swartkrans indicate an intermediate diet, mainly C 3-based, but with a significant C 4 contribution, derived either directly from C 4 grasses or indirectly via animal foods. Thus a comparative approach using 13 C/ 12 C ratio analysis of enamel offers a significant new tool for obtaining unique information about human and faunal diets of great age.- ,.
Scientific reports, 2017
Relatively high (15)N abundances in bone collagen of early anatomically modern humans in Europe have often been interpreted as a specific consumption of freshwater resources, even if mammoth is an alternative high (15)N prey. At Buran-Kaya III, access to associated fauna in a secured archaeological context and application of recently developed isotopic analyses of individuals amino acids offer the opportunity to further examine this hypothesis. The site of Buran-Kaya III is located in south Crimea and has provided a rich archaeological sequence including two Upper Palaeolithic layers, from which human fossils were retrieved and directly dated as from 37.8 to 33.1 ka cal BP. Results from bulk collagen of three human remains suggests the consumption of a high (15)N prey besides the contribution of saiga, red deer, horse and hare, whose butchered remains were present at the site. In contrast to bulk collagen, phenylalanine and glutamic acid (15)N abundances reflect not only animal but ...