Antoine Zazzo

Antoine Zazzo
Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle · Département Écologie et Gestion de la Biodiversité

PhD Geochemistry

About

165
Publications
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6,383
Citations
Additional affiliations
September 2008 - present
Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle
Position
  • French National Centre for Scientific Research
October 2007 - October 2008
September 2005 - September 2007
University College Dublin

Publications

Publications (165)
Article
RATIONALE: Hair keratin is a very important material in ecological and archaeological studies because it grows continuously, can be obtained non-invasively, does not require extensive processing prior to analysis and can be found in archaeological sites. Only a few studies have examined seasonal variations in hair isotope values, and there is no pu...
Article
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In Oman, the presence of highly productive marine environments, coupled with relatively limited land resources, have led to intense exploitation of coastal resources, but the question of the seasonality of occupation of coastal sites remains open. Our aim is to evaluate the contribution of marine resources to the diet of the Neolithic population of...
Article
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We report the first large-scale palaeoproteomics research on eastern and southern African zooarchaeological samples, thereby refining our understanding of early caprine (sheep and goat) pastoralism in Africa. Assessing caprine introductions is a complicated task because of their skeletal similarity to endemic wild bovid species and the sparse and f...
Article
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Museum collections are extremely valuable sources of material for ongoing research, although the conservation history of some objects is not always recorded, which can be problematic for chemical analyses. While most contamination is removed using the acid-base-acid treatment, this may not be the case for cross-linked contamination. The XAD resin p...
Article
The Andean highlands challenged but did not prevent human exploration and occupation starting in the Late Pleistocene. The timing and nature of these events is an ongoing area of research and debate for which reliable chronologies are required. Our goal is to revise the chronological framework of the Telarmachay rockshelter, a key site from the And...
Article
The analysis of archaeological textiles is a primary source of knowledge about past societies, and the information it provides is remarkably diverse. However, special preservation conditions are needed to obtain an accurate picture of the use of textiles, particularly in the making of clothing. In Tomb 14 at the site of Burgast (Altai Mountains, Mo...
Article
Kazakh herders of the Mongolian Altai practice a form of nomadism char-acterised by high altitudinal amplitude and more frequent movements than in other regions of Mongolia. This paper proposes a local scale study of nomadic practices using an original multidisciplinary methodological ap-proach combining anthropological surveys and several years’ G...
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The olive tree was an iconic plant for most of the past Mediterranean civilizations, for which it had important economic value. Here we report the earliest use of fruits and wood from olive trees in Africa so far, around 100,000 years ago. These findings suggest the presence of olive trees on the Atlantic coast of Morocco during most of the last gl...
Article
The recent study of botanical macro-remains from the Late Sasanian and Early Islamic (5th to 8th century) fort of Fulayj (Batinah, Sultanate of Oman) provides a unique opportunity to discuss food and fuel acquisition strategies in an arid environment and to document periods that are little known from an archaeobotanical perspective in Eastern Arabi...
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The remains of 61 individuals buried in the cemetery of Jebel Sahaba (site 117) offer unique and substantial evidence to the emergence of violence in the Nile Valley at the end of the Late Pleistocene. Excavated and assessed in the 1960s, some of the original findings and interpretations are disputed. A full reanalysis of the timing, nature and ext...
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Identifying the isotopic signatures of vertical mobility and alpine meadows exploitation in the teeth of domesticated animals can be a key to understanding the subsistence strategies used by pastoral communities through history. Indeed, the oxygen (δ¹⁸O) and carbon (δ¹³C) isotopic composition of sequentially sampled tooth enamel, used alone or in c...
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An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
Article
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Strontium isotopic analysis of sequentially formed tissues, such as tooth enamel, is commonly used to study provenance and mobility of humans and animals. However, the potential of ⁸⁷ Sr/ ⁸⁶ Sr in tooth enamel to track high-frequency movements has not yet been established, in part due to the lack of data on modern animals of known movement and pred...
Article
The proteomic analysis of hairs, yarns or textiles has emerged as a powerful method to determine species of origin, mainly used in archaeozoological research and fraud control. Differentiation between the South American camelid (SAC) species (the wild guanaco and vicuña and their respective domesticates the llama and alpaca) is particularly challen...
Article
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Cotton ( Gossypium sp.), a plant of tropical and sub-tropical origin, appeared at several sites on the Arabian Peninsula at the end of the 1st mill. BCE-beginning of the 1st mill. CE. Its spread into this non-native, arid environment is emblematic of the trade dynamics that took place at this pivotal point in human history. Due to its geographical...
Book
Cet ouvrage est le fruit d’une longue et étroite collaboration entre une équipe française comprenant des spécialistes de nombreuses disciplines archéologiques et paléo-environnementales et un institut de recherche djiboutien dédié à la recherche archéologique et historique. Leur terrain d’étude se situe dans le bassin du Gobaad, des abords du lac A...
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The attribution of osteological remains of a bird discovered in Preceramic deposits at Nemocón IV rockshelter (Sabana de Bogotá, Colombia) to Ara sp. (macaws) is confirmed through osteological and morphometrical analyses. Thirteen bones were recovered from two adjacent, arbitrary excavation levels; and are considered the remains of a single individ...
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Abstract This paper aims to define the first chrono-cultural framework on the domestication and early diffusion of the opium poppy using small-sized botanical remains from archaeological sites, opening the way to directly date minute short-lived botanical samples. We produced the initial set of radiocarbon dates directly from the opium poppy remain...
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The advent of domestication is a major step that transformed the subsistence strategies of past human societies. In Africa, domestic caprines (sheep and goat) were introduced in the northeastern part of the continent from the Near East more than 9000 years ago. However, their diffusion southwards was slow. They are thought to have made their first...
Article
In this study, new approaches are developed for measuring and understanding the reactivity of East African amplifier lakes and the societies that occupied their margins to African monsoon related hydrological changes. Drawing on seven newly discovered archaeological sites in the Lower Awash valley, corresponding to the northern Abhe Lake basin, we...
Article
The horse, as a domestic animal, had a strong impact on the organisation of ancient societies of the eastern steppes of Eurasia by enabling people to move faster and transport goods and people more efficiently. This newfound mobility was accompanied by profound changes in the expression of ritual practices, and horses are repeatedly found in funera...
Article
The assessment of the date of death (DOD) of animals found in archaeological sites provides insights into the exploitation of their environment by ancient mobile and sedentary populations. In an attempt to overcome the limitations of the traditional methods, we determine the DOD of domestic caprines using sequential oxygen isotope analysis of devel...
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Prehistoric stone structures are prominent and well-studied in the Levantine desert margins. In northern Arabia, however, such structures have received less attention. This article presents the results of investigations of a 35m-long stone platform, first constructed in the mid sixth millennium BC, overlooking the oasis of Dûmat al-Jandal in northe...
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This article is a Commentary on Suetsugu et al. (2020), 227: 1519–1529.
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The house mouse (Mus musculus) represents the extreme of globalization of invasive mammals. However, the timing and basis of its origin and early phases of dispersal remain poorly documented. to track its synanthropisation and subsequent invasive spread during the develoment of complex human societies, we analyzed 829 Mus specimens from 43 archaeol...
Article
Frequently preserved in archaeological and palaeontological sites, the tiny size of small‐mammal remains favours percolations into underlying layers along stratigraphic sequences. This is one of the various post‐depositional processes that may affect the integrity of the original deposits and therefore the subsequent scientific interpretations. Rec...
Article
Link to paper – https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1aT~D,rVDBRerf This paper presents the results of a study using strontium, oxygen and carbon isotopes, strontium concentrations, infrared analyses and radiocarbon dating to investigate human mobility and landscape use as seen in individuals from the Neolithic court tomb of Parknabinnia, Co. Clare, Ire...
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Deer stone and khirigsuur complexes are monuments that are characteristic of the Late Bronze Age (1200-700 BC) of the steppes of central and northern Mongolia. The khirigsuurs are made up of a large central mound around which are distributed peripheral structures: mounds and circles of stones. The peripheral mounds cover heads, vertebrae and phalan...
Article
Textile technology strongly advanced with sedentism and pastoralism. During prehistory, many populations settled in central Eurasia, a place of extensive exchange and cultural contact. In the Taklamakan desert, the dry climate enabled good preservation of ancient textiles. The study presented here aimed to identify animal fibres from Bronze Age and...
Article
The use of ochre in mortuary practices was widespread during prehistory. In northern Thailand, several painted rock-shelters attributed to Iron age or Neolithic cultures have provided burials characterized by the presence of pigment fragments and ochres deposits. In the case of Doi Pha Kan, data collected during excavations have highlighted the imp...
Article
Rationale Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope time series performed in continuously growing tissues (hair, tooth enamel) are commonly used to reconstruct the dietary history of modern and ancient animals. Predicting the effects of altitudinal mobility on animal δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values remains difficult as several variables such as temperature, water av...
Poster
Full-text available
In Africa, the absence of wild ancestors' remains of domestic caprines indicates an exogenous origin of domestic sheep and goat. Archaeological evidences suggest that they were introduced in the Northern part of the continent by the 7 th millenium BCE, but only arrived in the Southern part by the 2 nd century BCE. Moreover, the morphological simila...
Article
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The deer stone and khirgisuur (DSK) monumental complexes are iconic elements of the Late Bronze Age (c. 1200-700 BC) ceremonial mortuary landscape of the Eastern Eurasian Steppe. A precise chronological framework of these monuments is crucial for understanding their ritual and funerary roles, as well as their wider social functions. The authors est...
Article
In Mainland Southeast Asia the Hoabinhian culture corresponds to the legacy of using massive tools made on cobbles, a techno-complex that persisted in a tropical environment for about 30,000 years. During this period, human burial practices also appear to be uniform and limited to burials in “flexed” position. However, stasis in cultural patterns i...
Article
Full-text available
Deer stone and khirigsuur complexes are monuments that are characteristic of the Late Bronze Age (1200- 700 BC) of the steppes of central and northern Mongolia. The khirigsuurs are made up of a large central mound around which are distributed peripheral structures: mounds and circles of stones. The peripheral mounds cover heads, vertebrae and phala...
Article
Full-text available
Pastoralism and camelid management have been essential to all aspects of pre-Hispanic Andean societies. Here, we present zooarchaeological and isotopic data on domestic camelid remains from Huaca Cao Viejo (El Brujo archaeological complex) on the northern coast of Peru, and dated to the Lambayeque/Sicán period—to characterise their biological age,...
Article
The analysis of the skeletal remains of vertebrates in archaeological contexts provides information about human-animal relationship and their environment. Their taxonomic identification based on macroscopic observation is not always possible due to fragmentation and poor preservation. In recent years, proteomics has emerged as an alternative but th...
Article
Ancient bone proteins provide a plethora of information regarding the identity, period, and diet/environment of animal species through proteomic analysis, radiocarbon dating and isotopic analysis respectively. However, each technique imposes specific constraints for bone protein extraction. Despite the sample preciousness and heterogeneity, these a...
Article
The Mexican Hairless dog, or Xoloitzcuintle, is a breed characterised by a sparse hair coat and a severe oligodontia. This phenotype is a consequence of Canine Ectodermal Dysplasia (CED) caused by a mutation on the FoxI3 autosomal gene. First accounts of hairless dogs in Mexico are dated to the 16th century CE, according to the historical record, b...
Article
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Cremated human remains from Stonehenge provide direct evidence on the life of those few select individuals buried at this iconic Neolithic monument. The practice of cremation has, however, precluded the application of strontium isotope analysis of tooth enamel as the standard chemical approach to study their origin. New developments in strontium is...
Article
Full-text available
A new project aims to define the origins and dispersal patterns of the opium poppy in Neolithic Western Europe through a comprehensive programme of radiocarbon dating.
Article
Exogenous carbonaceous contaminants coming from sediments significantly bias the radiocarbon date of collagen samples extracted from archaeological bone and teeth. In this study, a new approach combining pyrolysis, comprehensive gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (Py-GC×GC/MS) was proposed to ensure their removal during the demineralization a...
Conference Paper
Recent archeological discoveries in North Africa brought this area back at the heart of the debate on the origin of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Later Stone Age (LSA) human settlements. This study focuses on the chronology of the MSA/LSA Transition in the Temara region (Atlantic coast, Northwestern Africa). This cultural transition is characteriz...
Article
Late prehistoric archaeological research in Myanmar is in a phase of rapid expansion. Recent work by the Mission Archéologique Française au Myanmar aims to establish a reliable Neolithic to Iron Age culture-historical sequence, which can then be compared to surrounding regions of Southeast Asia. Excavations at Nyaung’gan and Oakaie in central Myanm...
Article
Phenotypic variation was characterized in 187 modern and archaeological specimens of the lesser white-toothed shrew (Crocidura suaveolens), obtained from both insular and continental European locations. Geometric morphometric methods were used to quantify variation in size and shape of the mandible. The phenotypic distance between populations, and...
Article
Full-text available
Because hard tissues can be radiocarbon dated, they are key to establishing the archaeological chronologies, palaeoenvironmental reconstructions and historical-biogeographical processes of the last 50,000 years. The advent of accelerator mass spectrometers (AMS) has revolutionized the field of archaeology but routine AMS dating still requires 60–20...
Article
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Bone remains of small vertebrate fossils provide valuable information for paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic reconstructions. However, direct radiocarbon dating of small vertebrates remains challenging as the extraction of sufficient good quality collagen is required. The efficiency of eight collagen extraction protocols was tested on seven sampl...
Article
Bone geochemistry of pre-Dogon (11th–16th cent. AD) and Dogon (17th–20th cent. AD) populations buried in two caves of the Bandiagara Cliff (Mali) was examined for the purpose of exploring their diet and mobility. While the Dogon were the subject of extensive ethnographic studies, the lifestyle of the pre-Dogon, so-called “Tellem” is not known. We t...
Presentation
Les microvertébrés sont d’excellents marqueurs environnementaux et climatiques, et la datation directe de ces restes retrouvés en contexte archéologique permettrait d’inscrire les reconstructions associées à leur découverte dans une chronologie absolue. La datation 14C de microéchantillons osseux représente aujourd’hui un défi car cela nécessite de...
Article
Full-text available
Throughout continental Southeast Asia, the Hoabinhian techno-complex stands out in clear contrast with the universal chrono-cultural model essentially established on the basis of western prehistory. Following this model, early authors considered perforated stones and associated lithic artefacts as markers of what was then believed to pertain to a S...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Reconstructing population migrations is a central question in archaeology. In Africa, the exact timing and route of migration of pastoral populations during the late Holocene remains an open question. Documenting the route of the first introductions of domestic caprines from Eastern to Southern Africa could give valuable information about these fir...
Article
Throught continental Southeast Asia, the Hoabinhian techno-complex stands out in clear contrast with the universal chrono-cultural model essentially established on the basis of western prehistory. Following this model, early authors considered perforated stones and associated lithic artefacts as markers of what was then believed to pertain to a Sou...
Article
Full-text available
This paper summarizes the main discoveries made on the Cypro-PPNA site of Klimonas (Ayios Tychonas, Limassol District, Cyprus) since 2009. It comes in complementarities with the paper published in 2012, which related the results of the 2011 season only (Vigne et al., 2012). Klimonas is located on a hill slope facing the sea and domination a small v...
Presentation
Les microvertébrés sont d’excellents marqueurs environnementaux et climatiques, et la datation directe de ces restes retrouvés en contexte archéologique permettrait d’inscrire les reconstructions associées à leur découverte dans une chronologie absolue. La datation 14C de micro-échantillons osseux représente aujourd’hui un défi car elle nécessite d...
Article
En 1863 et 1864, sous l’impulsion de Jacques Boucher de Perthes (1788-1868), une série de restes humains fut mise au jour dans la carrière de Moulin Quignon, près d’Abbeville dans la Somme, site connu quelques temps auparavant pour avoir livré des industries lithiques de type acheuléen permettant la reconnaissance « officielle » de la grande antiqu...
Article
La collection de Moulin Quignon est une collection cohérente, malgré la diversité de ses pièces, dans la certitude de sa provenance et dans son rattachement aux recherches menées sur le site en 1863–1864. Considérée comme historique et patrimoniale, son étude a permis néanmoins de livrer des informations scientifiques importantes et valables pour l...
Article
This study aims at comparing the reliability of different types of apatite fractions for which collagen cannot be dated. We focused on the remains of individuals found at the necropolis of Porta Nocera near Pompeii, and for which the date of burial can be assessed independently. The dated human samples range between 1805±49 and 5570±120 14 C yr BP...
Article
Full-text available
Expensive and time-consuming preparation procedures for radiocarbon and stable isotope analyses can be conducted on archaeological bone samples even if no collagen is preserved. Such unsuccessful preparation can lead to the partial destruction of valuable archaeological material. Establishing a rapid prescreening method for evaluating the amount of...
Article
Full-text available
Ra’s al-Hamra 6 (RH-6) is one of the earliest stratified archaeological sites along the eastern littoral of the Arabian Peninsula. This shell midden was radiocarbon dated to the 6th–5th millennium cal BC, but the majority of the dates were obtained before the advent of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14 C dating and suffer from large uncertaint...
Article
Full-text available
This paper is focused on cultural and subsistence changes in North African societies during the Early and Middle Holocene, with a special emphasis on the emergence of a productive economy in the Eastern Maghreb. An overview of Western Mediterranean Neolithic spread is first given in order to verify the trajectories evinced in European and North Afr...
Article
Within the framework of the Mission Archéologique El Harhoura-Témara, M'Tsogatin 1 cave was discovered during a field survey with two aims: 1) the litologic study of mineral resources used in the prehistoric sites from the northwestern coastal Meseta and the research of human settlement evidences. Three test pits were realized in M'Tsogatin 1 cave....