Klervia Jaouen

Géosciences Environnement Toulouse - Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées · Department of Human Evolution

We are grateful to Miki Ben-Dor and Ran Barkai for their interest in our study (1). We acknowledge that a high-fat diet should have been discussed in our hypothesis as an additional dietary option. However, we are afraid that there was a misunderstanding in the interpretation of our data. Ben-Dor and Barkai (2) wrote that "One explanation presented...

The exploitation of mid-and large-sized herbivores (ungulates) was central to hominin subsistence across Late Pleistocene Europe. Reconstructing the paleoecology of prey-taxa is key to better understanding procurement strategies, decisions and behaviors, and the isotope analysis of faunal bones and teeth found at archaeological sites represent a po...

The characterization of Neandertals’ diets has mostly relied on nitrogen isotope analyses of bone and tooth collagen. However, few nitrogen isotope data have been recovered from bones or teeth from Iberia due to poor collagen preservation at Paleolithic sites in the region. Zinc isotopes have been shown to be a reliable method for reconstructing tr...

Abstract The characterization of Neandertals’ diets has mostly relied on nitrogen isotope analyses of bone and tooth collagen. However, few nitrogen isotope data have been recovered from bones or teeth from Iberia due to poor collagen preservation at Paleolithic sites in the region. Zinc isotopes have been shown to be a reliable method for reconstr...

In the last decades, methodological advancements in the natural and exact sciences have increasingly been used to study the past. In this chapter, we review how such developments can be applied to address questions regarding Neanderthal identification, phylogeny, chronology, mobility, climate, and diet. These examples illustrate how prehistoric stu...

Diet is a crucial trait of an animal’s lifestyle and ecology. The trophic level of an organism indicates its functional position within an ecosystem and holds significance for its ecology and evolution. Here, we demonstrate the use of zinc isotopes (δ66Zn) to geochemically assess the trophic level in diverse extant and extinct sharks, including the...

In archaeological contexts, marine dietary interpretations mainly rely on nitrogen isotope ratios. Recently, it has been shown that zinc isotope ratios (δ66Zn) can be a promising tracer to get access to trophic level information in the absence of collagen preservation and to obtain complementary information to other dietary tracers. However, in mar...

Tam Pà Ling, a cave site in northeastern Laos, has yielded the earliest skeletal evidence of Homo sapiens in mainland Southeast Asia. The reliance of Pleistocene humans in rainforest settings on plant or animal resources is still largely unstudied, mainly due to poor collagen preservation in fossils from tropical environments precluding stable nitr...

To investigate the mobility patterns of Neanderthals and modern humans in Europe during the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition period, we applied strontium isotope analysis to Neanderthal (n = 3) and modern human (n = 2) teeth recovered from the site of Fumane Cave in the Monti Lessini region of Northern Italy. We also measured a large number...

Archaeological bone collagen is highly useful for radiocarbon (¹⁴C) dating and palaeodietary reconstruction. However, collagen preservation and carbon contamination are essential considerations when extracting collagen, becoming especially crucial close to the limit of the method (50,000 years before present = BP). Strong progress has been achieved...

In marine ecology, dietary interpretations of faunal assemblages often rely on nitrogen isotopes as the main or only applicable trophic level tracer. We investigate the geographic variability and trophic level isotopic discrimination factors of bone zinc ⁶⁶ Zn/ ⁶⁴ Zn ratios (δ ⁶⁶ Zn value) and compared it to collagen nitrogen and carbon stable isot...

We present here a map of bioavailable strontium for Southwestern Turkey derived from measurements of modern plants and mollusk (land snail) shells from various geological areas. Samples were collected from 87 locations and strontium isotope measurements were made on 283 plant and mollusk samples. The plants consisted of deep-rooted, medium-rooted a...

Sulfur isotope composition of organic tissues is a commonly used tool for gathering information about provenance and diet in archaeology and paleoecology. However, the lack of maps predicting sulfur isotope variations on the landscape limits the possibility to use this isotopic system in quantitative geographic assignments. We compiled a database o...

Mass graves are usually key historical markers with strong incentive for archeological investigations. The identification of individuals buried in mass graves has long benefitted from traditional historical, archaeological, anthropological and paleopathological techniques. The addition of novel methods including genetic, genomic and isotopic geoche...

Objectives This study aims to assess if inter‐island mobility can be identified during the Namu period (ca. 1,510–1800 AD) using ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr analysis of dental enamel for individuals from the Namu burial ground on Taumako Island in the eastern Solomon Island Chain. Historic evidence from this region suggests that females migrated between the Duff, Re...

Establishing strontium isotope (87 Sr/ 86 Sr) geographical variability is a key component of any study that seeks to utilize strontium isotopes as tracers of provenance or mobility. Although lithological maps can provide a guideline, estimations of bioavailable 87 Sr/ 86 Sr are often necessary, both in qualitative estimates of local strontium isoto...

Establishing strontium isotope (87 Sr/ 86 Sr) geographical variability is a key component of any study that seeks to utilize strontium isotopes as tracers of provenance or mobility. Although lithological maps can provide a guideline, estimations of bioavailable 87 Sr/ 86 Sr are often necessary, both in qualitative estimates of local strontium isoto...

In marine ecology, dietary interpretations of faunal assemblages often rely on nitrogen isotopes as the main or only applicable trophic level tracer. We investigate geographic variability and trophic level isotopic discrimination factors of a new tracer, bone ⁶⁶ Zn/ ⁶⁴ Zn ratios (δ ⁶⁶ Zn value), and compared it to collagen nitrogen and carbon stabl...

Zinc (Zn) isotope ratios of dental enamel are a promising tracer for dietary reconstruction in archeology, but its use is still in its infancy. A recent study demonstrated a high risk of Zn contamination from nitrile, and latex gloves used during chemical sample preparation. Here we assess the potential impact of the use of such gloves during ename...

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of collagen from bone and dentin have frequently been used for dietary reconstruction, but this method is limited by protein preservation. Isotopes of the trace element zinc (Zn) in bioapatite constitute a promising proxy to infer dietary information from extant and extinct vertebrates. The ⁶⁶Zn/⁶⁴Zn ratio...

Recent research performed on volunteers and patients suggested that diet, health, and basal metabolic rates (BMR) are factors controlling the bodily Zn isotope compositions (isotopic homeostasis). However, our poor understanding of the variability of Zn distribution among the different organs and fluids of the human body, and the ensuing isotope fr...

We document for the first time the diet of a privileged French population from Brittany, a region that was the center of battles between the Kingdoms of England and France until the end of the fifteenth century. We present here the results of stable isotope analyses of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur of human and animal bone and tooth collagen for a l...

Significance Identifying past hominin diets is a key to understanding adaptation and biological evolution. Bone collagen isotope studies have added much to the discussion of Neandertal subsistence strategies, providing direct measures of diet. Neandertals consistently show very elevated nitrogen isotope values. These values have been seen as the si...

This short review aims at drawing up an inventory of the existing chemical techniques that can help reconstruct past hominin diets in the absence of organic preservations (such as collagen). Preservation issues necessitate the preferential use of dental enamel over bones for bioapatite trace and minor element analyses. The trace element ratios in d...

Here we report Sr and Zn isotope ratios of teeth of medieval to early modern Breton people a population whose diet is known from historical, archeological and collagen isotope data. Most of the population, buried in the Dominican convent of Rennes, France, consists of parliamentary nobles, wealthy commoners and ecclesiastics, who had a diet rich in...

Abstract Using strontium isotope analysis, we investigated the mobility of Roman (1st to 7th century AD) and Byzantine (9th–13th century AD) individuals buried at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hierapolis, Turkey. Results from Roman and Byzantine individuals show that while the majority of the population interred at this site have local strontiu...

As a consequence of recent developments in mass spectrometry, the application of non-traditional stable isotope systems (e.g. Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, Sr, Zn) as well as radiogenic isotopes to archaeological materials is now possible. These techniques have opened new perspectives in bioarchaeology and can provide information on metabolism, diet and the mobi...

div class="title">Early Holocene ritual complexity in South America: the archaeological record of Lapa do Santo (east-central Brazil) - Volume 90 Issue 354 - André Strauss, Rodrigo Elias Oliveira, Ximena S. Villagran, Danilo V. Bernardo, Domingo C. Salazar-García, Marcos César Bissaro, Francisco Pugliese, Tiago Hermenegildo, Rafael Santos, Alberto...

Objectives: Here, we report Cu and Zn isotope ratios of bones and teeth of French people from various historical periods with the aim to understand how Cu and Zn isotope ratios of bone, a tissue that is continuously remodeled throughout life but that is prone to post-mortem diagenesis, compare with that of tooth enamel, a tissue that forms once du...

Significance The displacement of Neandertals by anatomically modern humans (AMHs) 50,000–40,000 y ago in Europe has considerable biological and behavioral implications. The Châtelperronian at the Grotte du Renne (France) takes a central role in models explaining the transition, but the association of hominin fossils at this site with the Châtelperr...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h_xiPuwMoA | Isotopic analyses of carbon and nitrogen are conventionally employed in bioarcheology for dietary reconstructions. These elements are however contained in the bone collagen which deteriorates over time. Mass spectrometry advances now allow trace element isotope analyses of bioapatite. First studies on Z...

In order to explore the possibilities of using zinc (Zn) stable isotope ratios as dietary indicators, we report here on the measurements of the ratio of stable isotopes of zinc (66Zn/64Zn, expressed here as δ66Zn) in bioapatite (bone and dental enamel) of animals from a modern food web in the Koobi Fora region of the Turkana Basin in Kenya. We demo...

Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios of bone collagen are an established method for dietary reconstruction, but this method is limited by the protein preservation. Zinc (Zn) is found in bioapatite and the isotopic compositions of this element constitute a very promising dietary indicator. The extent of fractionation of Zn isotopes in marine en...

Figure A. Relationship between Zn isotopic compositions of terrestrial and marine mammal bones and trophic levels. Table A. Location, type of samples, species, collagen preservation, concentrations (C, N, Zn) and isotopic compositions (C, N, Zn) of the different marine mammal samples analyzed in the study. Table B. δ66Zn values of in house standard...

Table A. Standard reference materials used for calibration of δ13C relative to VPDB and δ15N relative to AIR. Table B. Standard reference materials used to monitor internal accuracy and precision. Table C. Accuracy and precision of calibration and check standards for each analytical. Table D. Accuracy and precision of calibration and check standard...

Objectives: Bourewa, on the southwest coast of Viti Levu in Fiji, is a multi-period site that contained burials dated to the later Vuda Phase (750-150 BP), a period of climatic fluctuations that potentially impacted the availability of food resources. We aim to investigate diet and movement at this site during a time of possible ecological pressur...

We present here evidence for an early Holocene case of decapitation in the New World (Burial 26), found in the rock shelter of Lapa do Santo in 2007. Lapa do Santo is an archaeological site located in the Lagoa Santa karst in east-central Brazil with evidence of human occupation dating as far back as 11.7–12.7 cal kyBP (95.4% interval). An ultra-fi...

Prehistoric dental treatments have been known from the Neolithic 9,000-7,500 years before present (BP), when the adoption of early farming culture caused an increase of carious lesions [2]. Only a few early cases have been documented, some were characterized by in vivo perforation of the crown surface made by a drilling tool. Here we document the e...

Prehistoric dental treatments have been known from the Neolithic 9,000-7,500 years before present (BP), when the adoption of early farming culture caused an increase of carious lesions. Only a few early cases have been documented, some were characterized by in vitro perforation of the crown surface made by a drilling tool. Here we document the earl...

Prehistoric dental treatments have been known from the Neolithic - 9,000-7,500 years before present (BP) -, when the adoption of early farming culture caused an increase of carious lesions. They were extremely rare, and the few documented cases were characterized by in vivo perforation of the crown surface made by a drilling tool. Here we document...

Prehistoric dental treatments were extremely rare, and the few documented cases are known from the Neolithic, when the adoption of early farming culture caused an increase of carious lesions. Here we report the earliest evidence of dental caries intervention on a Late Upper Palaeolithic modern human specimen (Villabruna) from a burial in Northern I...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCKlrPveYn4

Os et dents résistent au passage du temps et à la décomposition du corps. Ils deviennent alors des fossiles, témoins précieux de la vie du passé, des archives biologiques et environnementales, archives culturelles lorsqu’ils sont retrouvés dans un contexte archéologique... Ils sont porteurs d’autant de « messages » qui peuvent être décryptés par de...

Significance In cancer, the metabolism of copper and sulfur are dysregulated, leading to deleterious side effects. These issues are commonly addressed by studying the variations of concentrations of the elements, but here we have used, for the first time to our knowledge, copper and sulfur stable isotope compositions variations, using methods wides...

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Vanuatu was first settled ca. 3000 years ago by populations associated with the Lapita culture. Models of diet, subsistence practices, and human interaction for the Lapita and subsequent occupation periods have been developed mainly using the available archaeological and paleoenvironmental data. We test these models using stable (carbon, nitrogen,...

Iron (δ(56) Fe) and copper (δ(65) Cu) stable isotope compositions in blood of adult human include a sex effect, which still awaits a biological explanation. Here, we investigate the effect of menopause by measuring blood δ(56) Fe and δ(65) Cu values of aging men and women. The results show that, while the Fe and Cu isotope compositions of blood of...

Recent isotopic observations of animal samples indicate body accumulation of heavy zinc and light copper throughout life. This hypothesis has never been tested for humans, but the existence of a relationship between blood isotopic composition and age could be promising for age assessment methodologies. Dietary habits can also influence the blood zi...

Depuis les années soixante-dix, l’outil isotopique, d’abord développé en géochimie, s’est généralisé en anthropologie. Il est en effet susceptible d’apporter des informations métaboliques complémentaires à l’étude ostéologique, notamment sur la mobilité et l’alimentation des populations passées. Cependant, sur la trentaine d’éléments présente dans...

Accurate sex assignment of ancient human remains usually relies on the availability of coxal bones or well-preserved DNA. Iron (Fe) and copper (Cu) stable isotope compositions ((56)Fe/(54)Fe and (65)Cu/(63)Cu, respectively) were recently measured in modern human blood, and an unexpected result was the discovery of a (56)Fe-depletion and a (65)Cu-en...

The ranges of the Fe and Cu isotope compositions in the human body are large, i.e. ~3% and ~2%, respectively. Both isotopic fractionations appear to be mainly controlled by redox conditions. The Fe and Cu isotope compositions of the tissues analyzed so far plot on a mixing hyperbolae between a reduced and an oxidized metals pools. The reduced metal...

Despite its potential importance for understanding perturbations in the Fe-Cu homeostatic pathways, the natural isotopic variability of these metals in the human body remains unexplored. We measured the Fe, Cu, and Zn isotope compositions of total blood, serum, and red blood cells of ~50 young blood donors by multiple-collector ICP-MS after separat...

Conference Information: 80th Annual Meeting of the American-Association-of-Physical-Anthropologists Minneapolis, MN, APR 11-16, 2011 Amer Assoc Phys Anthropol