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Same old in Middle Neolithic diets? A stable isotope study of bone collagen from the burial community of Jechtingen, southwest Germany
... Analysen der leichten stabilen Isotopenverhältnisse von Kohlensto und Sticksto galten der Ernährungsrekonstruktion. Ziele waren eine generelle Charakterisierung hinsichtlich pflanzlicher und tierischer Nahrungskomponenten sowie die Erschließung von Unterschieden innerhalb der Bestattungsgemeinschaft in Abhängigkeit von Alter, Geschlecht und Grabausstattungen, die auf eine soziale Di erenzierung hindeuten könnten (Knipper u. a. 2015). Der vorliegende Beitrag widmet sich der Auswertung der an den Bestattungen von Mauenheim vorgenommenen Isotopenanalysen im Vergleich zu Proben von Faunenresten aus den Grabhügeln. ...
... Anders als beim Magdalenenberg, wo es sich ausschließlich um Männerbestattungen handelt, umfasst die Gruppe in Mauenheim einen Mann, eine Frau und ein bezüglich des Geschlechts nicht bestimmbares erwachsenes Individuum, das der Schwertbeigabe nach zu urteilen, dem männlichen Geschlecht zuzuordnen ist. Die δ 15 N-Werte der oben besprochenen Individuen N,11 und N, Auch in Mauenheim deutet sich an, dass aus den Grabausstattungen ableitbare Hinweise auf soziale Di erenzierung zu Lebzeiten mit unterschiedlichen Ernährungsweisen einhergingen (Knipper u. a. 2015). So finden sich die beiden Bestattungen mit Wagenbeigabe und Für drei der anhand der Sr-Isotopenanalysen als ortsfremd identifizierten Individuen liegen auch leichte stabile Isotopendaten vor, während die Kollagenerhaltung der Probe des Individuums T, 2 keine Bestimmung der δ 13 C-und δ 15 N-Werte zuließ. ...
... Die durch ein besonders radiogenes 87 Sr/ 86 Sr-Verhältnis als in Mauenheim fremd identifizierte junge Frau W, 3 erbrachte auch den niedrigsten δ 13 C-Wert in der gesamten Bestattungsgemeinschaft. Auch wenn es sich um keinen statistisch signifikanten Ausreißer handelt, könnte dies als Hinweis auf eine mit ihrer Ortsfremdheit einhergehende abweichende Ernährungsweise zu werten sein -sei es, weil sie abweichende Präferenzen in der Auswahl der konsumierten Nahrungsmittel auch nach der Umsiedlung beibehielt, oder weil ihr Knochensignal möglicherweise noch durch leicht abweichende C-Isotopensignale an ihrem früheren Wohnort geprägt war. Kohlensto -Isotopenverhältnisse variieren überregional in Abhängigkeit von der Niederschlagsmenge, wie für neolithische Bestattungen herausgearbeitet werden konnte (Mörseburg u. a. 2015). Deshalb könnte der niedrige δ 13 C-Wert als Indikator für die Nahrungsgewinnung aus einem anderen, mutmaßlich feuchteren, Habitat zu werten sein. ...
Zusammenfassung: Die Sr- und O-Isotopenanalysen an den Skelettresten der Bestattungen und einigen Schweine- und Hundezähnen implizieren die Belegung der Hügelnekropole von Mauenheim durch eine weitgehend lokale Bevölkerung. Die Sauerstoff-Isotopendaten aller Individuen stehen mit einer Herkunft aus der klimatischen Großregion Südschwarzwald/Hegau/Oberschwaben in Einklang. Dagegen zeigen sich die Strontium-Isotopendaten etwas differenzierter. Für 13 der 17 untersuchten Individuen aus der Späthallstattzeit (76,5 %) legen sie eine Herkunft aus dem näheren Umland von Mauenheim nahe, wobei ein Ursprung aus einer geologisch ähnlichen Region im Einzelfall unerkannt geblieben sein kann. Vier Individuen, darunter zwei männliche und zwei weibliche Personen, waren anhand ihrer Sr-Isotopendaten als ortsfremd zu erkennen. Bei den Individuen mit besonders radiogenen 87Sr/86Sr-Werten handelt es sich um Frauen. Sowohl die Isotopendaten als auch das archäologische Fundmaterial finden gute Entsprechungen im hallstattzeitlichen Großgrabhügel Magdalenenberg bei Villingen-Schwenningen und zeigen mögliche Verbindungen in den Südschwarzwald und Kontakte zwischen benachbarten Siedlungsregionen an. Um daraus weiterreichende Schlüsse zu den in der Späthallstattzeit vorherrschenden Residenzregeln oder geschlechtsspezifischer Mobilität zu ziehen, ist die Stichprobe allerdings zu klein.
Die Stickstoff- und Kohlenstoff-Isotopenverhältnisse des Knochenkollagens belegen eine Mischernährung aus pflanzlichen und tierischen Komponenten. Die δ13C-Werte zeigen eine Dominanz der in Mitteleuropa üblichen C3-Pflanzen an, deren Isotopensignatur sich entweder über den direkten Verzehr oder über den Konsum von Fleisch und Sekundärprodukten von Tieren, deren Nahrungsgrundlage C3-Pflanzen waren, im menschlichen Kollagen manifestierte. Wie auch für andere eisenzeitliche Bestattungsgemeinschaften belegt und insbesondere durch den Vergleich mit neolithischen und frühbronzezeitlichen Datensätzen erkennbar, trug auch die Hirse – eine C4-Pflanze – in geringen Anteilen zur menschlichen Ernährung bei. Die leichten stabilen Isotopendaten bezeugen einen ausgeglichenen Zugang der beiden Geschlechter zu pflanzlichen und tierischen Nahrungskomponenten. Bezüglich des Alters zeigen zwei Kleinkinder leicht erhöhte δ15N-Werte, wie es während der Stillzeit charakteristisch ist. Die sog. „Stillsignale“ sind jedoch entweder noch nicht oder nicht mehr vollständig ausgeprägt. Unter den erwachsenen Individuen zeichnen sich einige ältere Personen mit erhöhten δ15N-Werten ab, was von einem bevorzugten Zugang zu tierischen Proteinen in Form von Fleisch, Fisch oder tierischen Sekundärprodukten zeugt. Eine Frau und ein Mann zeigten δ15N-Werte in einer Höhe, die auch im überregionalen Vergleich wenige Parallelen findet. Die Ausstattungsparameter der Individuen mit erhöhten N-Isotopenwerten sprechen bei einigen Individuen für einen Zusammenhang mit einer gehobenen sozialen Stellung. Die Beigabenlosigkeit eines Individuums mit erhöhtem δ15N-Wert und die Unauffälligkeit der N-Isotopendaten einiger vergleichsweise umfangreich ausgestatteten Individuen sprechen allerdings gegen eine einfache Korrelation zwischen Grabausstattung, Sozialstatus und Ernährungsweise. Zu bedenken bleibt auch, dass die vorliegenden Daten nur einen Ausschnitt der Bestattungsgemeinschaft von Mauenheim widerspiegeln und zahlreiche Individuen aus Erhaltungsgründen oder aufgrund ihrer Niederlegung als Brandbestattungen für die Isotopenanalysen nicht zur Verfügung standen. Insgesamt zeugen die Isotopendaten einer auf das lokale Umfeld konzentrierten, aber keinesfalls isolierten Gemeinschaft, die sich auch bezüglich des Ernährungsverhaltens gut in das Bild der damaligen Zeit einreiht.
... Likewise, there is no consistent correlation between either δ 13 C or δ 15 N and the C/N ratio. Fig. 3 shows the relationship between δ 13 C and C/N ratio for collagen extracted from bones at the site of Jechtingen, Germany (Mörseburg et al., 2015). Bone tends to give anomalous δ 13 C and δ 15 N analyses if the C/N ratio falls outside the range of 2.9-3.6 (DeNiro, 1985;DeNiro and Weiner, 1988). ...
... Plot of δ 13 C vs C/N ratio for collagen extracted from human bone at the site of Jechtingen, Germany (adapted fromMörseburg et al., 2015). ...
The composition of the diet of ancient humans is commonly estimated by measuring the δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N ratios of collagen extracted from human bone. Because bone has been subjected to diagenesis during burial it is possible that its isotopic composition has been altered. DeNiro (1985) showed that if collagen has an atomic C/N ratio outside the interval 2.9 to 3.6, then it may show aberrant isotopic values. Here we show that the theoretical ideal C/N ratio of human collagen is at the midpoint of that interval (3.243). We also note that most measured ratios lie very close to that value. Deviations from that value due either to alteration of collagen or admixture of contaminant organic molecules are likely to shift the δ values away from their initial values. Values of C/N higher than 3.243 are likely to be due to contamination with humic matter while lower values might be due to selective loss of amino acids.
... Staple plants in the latter group include millet, maize, and sorghum, of which only millet is relevant in European prehistory, but not until post-Neolithic times [16,46,47]. Variation of carbon isotope ratios within the spectrum of C 3 plants reflects density and extent of forest cover ("canopy effect", [48][49][50]) and humidity [51,52], which is also mirrored in Neolithic collagen samples [53]. ...
... Stable isotope studies which focus on the Neolithic have been conducted by several workgroups in various geographic areas of Europe; an overview and a summary of available data is given in [53]. Two studies are worth mentioning here. ...
Investigation of human diet during the Neolithic has often been limited to a few archaeological cultures or single sites. In order to provide insight into the development of human food consumption and husbandry strategies, our study explores bone collagen carbon and nitrogen isotope data from 466 human and 105 faunal individuals from 26 sites in central Ger-many. It is the most extensive data set to date from an enclosed geographic microregion, covering 4,000 years of agricultural history from the Early Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. The animal data show that a variety of pastures and dietary resources were explored, but that these changed remarkably little over time. In the human δ 15 N however we found a significant increase with time across the different archaeological cultures. This trend could be observed in all time periods and archaeological cultures (Bell Beaker phenomenon excluded), even on continuously populated sites. Since there was no such trend in faunal isotope values, we were able largely to exclude manuring as the cause of this effect. Based on the rich interdisciplinary data from this region and archaeological period we can argue that meat consumption increased with the increasing duration of farming subsistence. In δ 13 C, we could not observe any clear increasing or decreasing trends during the archaeological time periods, either for humans or for animals, which would have suggested significant changes in the environment and landscape use. We discovered sex-related dietary differences, with males of all archaeological periods having higher δ 15 N values than females, and an age-related increasing consumption of animal protein. An initial decrease of δ15N-values at the age of 1±2 years reveals partial weaning, while complete weaning took
place at the age of 3±4 years.
... Isotopic Analysis. Data on carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios for LBK sites were collected from a review of published literature [8][9][10][11]21,22,27,[54][55][56][57] . All studies extracted collagen from ribs and long bones (see Supplementary Table S6) using the modified Longin 58,59 method of sample preparation. ...
... Particularly noticeable are the lower δ 15 N values of human remains from Schwetzingen. Data collected from published sources[8][9][10][11]21,22,27,[54][55][56][57] (see Supplementary Tables S6 and S7and Methods section for full detail). ...
Across much of central Europe, the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) represents the first Neolithic communities. Arising in Transdanubia around 5500 cal. BC the LBK spread west to the Rhine within two to three hundred years, carrying elements of a mixed agricultural economy and a relatively homogeneous material culture. Colonisation of new regions during this progress would have required economic adaptations to varied ecological conditions within the landscape. This paper investigates whether such adaptation at a local scale affected health patterns and altered the dietary habits of populations that otherwise shared a common cultural and biological origin. Analysis of non-specific stress (linear enamel hypoplasia, porotic hyperostosis, cribra orbitalia) within five LBK populations from across central Europe in conjunction with published carbon and nitrogen stable isotope data from each site revealed a high prevalence of porotic hyperostosis and cribra orbitalia in western populations that was associated with a lower animal protein intake. Hypoplastic enamel was more frequently observed in eastern populations however, and may reflect geographic differences in childhood morbidity and mortality as a result of variation in social practices relating to weaning. Local socio-economic adaptations within the LBK were therefore an important factor in the exposure of populations to non-specific stress.
... No isotopic differences can be observed between males and females at RR. Similar findings have been reported for another MTK (Grossgartach, Planig-Friedberg, and Rössen) site -Jechtingen, Germany (Mörseburg et al., 2015) -, while a statistically significant but weak sex-related dietary pattern (<0.5‰ in δ 13 C values) was identified at a Grossgartach and Hinkelstein site -Trebur in Germany (Dürrwächter et al., 2006). It should be noted that at RR, among those that can be sexed morphologically (30/80), males are significantly underrepresented (8/30). ...
La nécropole de Rosheim "Rosenmeer" (RR) (Bas-Rhin, France) rassemble le plus grand assemblage anthropologique d’Alsace du Néolithique moyen, daté de la culture Grossgartach (première moitié du Ve millénaire). Il constitue un site clé du Néolithique d’ascendance danubienne, diffusé d’abord vers le Bassin parisien, puis le reste de l’Europe occidentale. Cette étude présente une analyse des isotopes stables du carbone, de l’azote et du soufre de 61 individus humains RR ainsi que de 37 individus fauniques provenant de sites contemporains environnants. Complétés par des données publiées (19 humains et 7 animaux), le taux d’individus analysés atteint plus de 65 %. Les données isotopiques sont croisées avec les données biologiques des individus (âge et sexe), les phases d’occupation et le niveau relatif de "richesse" des sépultures (approche quantitative du mobilier). Aucune variation chronologique de l’alimentation n’est observée à RR. L’alimentation ne diffère pas entre les adolescents et les adultes, ni entre les hommes et les femmes. Parmi les plus jeunes enfants, on remarque les effets de l’allaitement. Le sevrage devait se terminer vers l’âge de deux ans. Aucun schéma alimentaire n’est corrélé à la quantité relative d’objets déposés dans les tombes. Les données isotopiques animales suggèrent des pratiques d’élevage spécifiques et différentes entre les herbivores et les omnivores. En comparant les ratios isotopiques des données humaines et animales du Bassin rhénan avec les données contemporaines du Bassin parisien (culture de Cerny), nous montrons, qu’en dépit d’un même contexte économique, la population inhumée à RR avait une alimentation davantage tournée vers des ressources agricoles.
... Reviewing the Mesolithic isotope record throughout Europe, Fontanals-Coll et al. (2014) identified a north-south gradient in carnivorous and plant-based diets. In the Neolithic, while some sites show continuous carnivorous protein sources (Budd et al., 2013; Hoekman-Sites & Giblin, 2012), others show an increase in dietary plant incorporation(Mörseburg et al., 2015;Szczepanek et al., 2018).Attempting to explain the contrast between archaeological findings and isotope studies in identifying relative carnivorous diets in the T A B L E 1 Stable isotope studies protein content in plants. However, an alternative explanation could be that carnivory is expected to be associated with high animal fat consumption (see the Targeting fat animals section) that would not have registered any nitrogen stable isotope accumulation. ...
The human trophic level (HTL) during the Pleistocene and its degree of variability serve, explicitly or tacitly, as the basis of many explanations for human evolution, behavior, and culture. Previous attempts to reconstruct the HTL have relied heavily on an analogy with recent hunter‐gatherer groups' diets. In addition to technological differences, recent findings of substantial ecological differences between the Pleistocene and the Anthropocene cast doubt regarding that analogy's validity. Surprisingly little systematic evolution‐guided evidence served to reconstruct HTL. Here, we reconstruct the HTL during the Pleistocene by reviewing evidence for the impact of the HTL on the biological, ecological, and behavioral systems derived from various existing studies. We adapt a paleobiological and paleoecological approach, including evidence from human physiology and genetics, archaeology, paleontology, and zoology, and identified 25 sources of evidence in total. The evidence shows that the trophic level of the Homo lineage that most probably led to modern humans evolved from a low base to a high, carnivorous position during the Pleistocene, beginning with Homo habilis and peaking in Homo erectus. A reversal of that trend appears in the Upper Paleolithic, strengthening in the Mesolithic/Epipaleolithic and Neolithic, and culminating with the advent of agriculture. We conclude that it is possible to reach a credible reconstruction of the HTL without relying on a simple analogy with recent hunter‐gatherers' diets. The memory of an adaptation to a trophic level that is embedded in modern humans' biology in the form of genetics, metabolism, and morphology is a fruitful line of investigation of past HTLs, whose potential we have only started to explore.
... In addition to Sr and O isotope analyses focusing on mobility, we also determined the stable isotope compositions of carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) in bone collagen to explore dietary habits. Carbon isotopes primarily refl ect the photosynthetic path of the plants at the bottom of the food webs or the part played by marine diet components (Katzenberg 2000), but they also indicate smaller variations in the environmental conditions of arable land, including leaf coverage and humidity (Drucker et al. 2008;Kohn 2010;Mörseburg et al. 2015). Nitrogen isotope data primarily vary with trophic levels and can therefore indicate the importance of animal-based foods in a human diet (Hedges and Reynard 2007). ...
... , Chamberlain, Zaki,Kandeel, & Fares, 2016;Chen et al., 2015;Ciaffi et al., 2015;Fernandes, Grootes, Nadeau, & Nehlich, 2015;Halffman & Velemínsk y, 2015;M€ orseburg, Alt, & Knipper, 2015;Nafplioti, 2016;Richards, Karavanić, Pettitt, & Miracle, 2015;Schutkowski & Soltysiak, 2015). The offset in d 13 C is much smaller in human bone collagen when comparing with bones of animals likely consumed by humans (i.e., the TLE) and is sometimes given as an interval of 10.8 to 1.3&(Bocherens & Drucker, 2003), but mostly rounded off to the originally suggested 11&(DeNiro & Epstein, 1978) which is the value that will be employed in this study for the TLE. ...
Objectives:
The diet and subsistence in Iron-Age ?land is debated as earlier studies and different archaeological sources seemingly provide conflicting interpretations. The objectives of this study are therefore to: (i) add new insights on diet and (ii) investigate the chronological variation in detail. It is common in studies of diet to investigate differences between datasets defined by archaeological periods (determined by artefact typology), but it is rare to explore whether these dietary changes are, in fact, well correlated with these temporal categories or not.
Materials and methods:
Stable isotope analysis of 108 individuals and 25 animals was used to interpret diet in comparison with data from earlier studies. Different values of TLE (Trophic Level Effect) for ?(15) N were compared for interpretations of diet. Of the 108 individuals, 42 were subjected to (14) C analysis in this study.
Results:
The isotopes from Iron-Age animals on ?land indicate that the local, contemporary ecology is specific. The human isotope values show chronological development both when pooled in chronological groups by typology and by more specific (14) C chronology.
Discussion:
The new samples of animals as well as the use of 5? TLE for ?(15) N values results in the diet reinterpreted as mainly domesticate-based, with at least two shifts in diet occurring in the Iron Age. The use of (14) C dates in connection with the stable isotope results indicates a dietary transition occurring between 200 BC and AD 200, a date range that spans two typologically determined time periods.
... Isotope data for Bavaria, including some of the sites discussed here, are reported by Asam et al. [24]. An overview and summary of available data is given in Mörseburg et al. [47]. ...
Isotopic investigations of two cemetery populations from the Corded Ware Culture in southern Germany reveal new information on the dating of these graves, human diet during this period, and individual mobility. Corded Ware Culture was present across much of temperate Europe ca. 2800–2200 cal. BC and is represented by distinctive artifacts and burial practices. Corded Ware was strongly influenced by the Yamnaya Culture that arose in the steppes of eastern Europe and western Eurasia after 3000 BC, as indicated by recent aDNA research. However, the development of CW on different chronological and spatial scales has to be evaluated. Examination of the CW burials from southern Germany supports an argument for substantial human mobility in this period. Several burials from gravefields and larger samples from two large cemeteries at Lauda-Königshofen "Wöllerspfad" and at Bergheinfeld “Hühnerberg” contributed the human remains for our study of bone and tooth enamel from the Corded Ware Culture. Our results suggest that Corded Ware groups in this region at least were subsisting on a mix of plant and animal foods and were highly mobile, especially the women. We interpret this as indicating a pattern of female exogamy, involving different groups with differing economic strategies.
... Finally, individuals who were identified as nonlocal according to their 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios had indifferent collagen light stable isotope ratios from the individuals who appeared local at the individual sites. Because there is indication for spatial variation of average d 13 C values within central Europe and correlation with precipitation levels (Hedges et al., 2013;M€ orseburg et al., 2015), longdistance arrivals from more humid areas than central Germany, may have appeared different from the local individuals. The absence of such evidence may rather point to movement within an area of similar environmental conditions and/or fast adaptation of the dietary habits of the receiving communities. ...
Objectives: Inhumations in so-called settlement pits and multiple interments are subordinate burial practices of the Early Bronze Age Unetice culture in central Germany (2200–1700/1650 BC). The majority of the Unetice population was entombed as single inhumations in rectangular grave pits with a normative position of the body. The goal of the study was to test archaeological hypotheses that the deviant burials may represent socially distinct or nonlocal individuals.
Materials and Methods: The study comprised up to two teeth and one bone each of 74 human individuals from
eight sites and faunal comparative samples. The inhumations included regular, deviant burials in so-called settlement or storage pits, and multiple burials. We investigated radiogenic strontium isotope compositions of tooth enamel (87Sr/86Sr) and light stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen of bone collagen (d13C, d15N) aiming at the disclosure of residential changes and dietary patterns.
Results: Site-specific strontium isotope data ranges mirror different geological properties including calcareous
bedrock, loess, and glacial till. Independent from burial types, they disclose low portions of nonlocal individuals of up to some 20% at the individual sites. The light stable isotope ratios of burials in settlement pits and rectangular graves overlap widely and indicate highly similar dietary habits.
Discussion: The analytical results let to conclude that inhumations in settlement pits and multiple burials were
two of the manifold burial practices of the Early Bronze Age. The selection criteria of the individuals for the different forms of inhumation remained undisclosed.
The paper is based on findings and finds from the Middle Copper Age Balaton-Lasinja culture were discovered at Keszthely-Fenékpuszta, Pusztaszentegyháza site in June, 2000. Based on the results of archaeological, anthropological, and ancient DNA analyses these pits can be evaluated as archaeological records for a previously unknown secondary mortuary practice of the Balaton-Lasinja culture in Hungary which, however, has already been known from several coeval from the neighbouring countries. On the one hand, the manipulation with skulls and postcranial skeleton parts can be traced back to Early Neolithic roots (LICHTER 2001, KUIJT 2008; ZALAI-GAÁL 2009), furthermore, Features 45 and 46 can well be compared to Copper Age ritual activities in deep shafts and wells. The diversity of the mitochondrial DNA lineages of the studied Balaton-Lasinja individuals does not support the explanation of execution or sacrifice of a single family, but rather speaks for the secondary inhumation of certain individuals from a larger community. This is supported by the evidence from δ13C, δ15N and 87Sr/86Sr isotopes that exhibit a range of variation indicative of individuals of heterogeneous, in some cases potentially non-local, origins. The number of the individuals concerned, the loose kinship connections between them, and the peripheral situation of the pits inside the settlement suggests a communal ritual, enacted by the whole community (probably the inhabitants of the village).
The late Iron Age (150–80 BC) proto-urban site of Basel-Gasfabrik, Switzerland, yielded numerous human skeletal remains, with individuals of all ages and both sexes being found in two cemeteries and in various features of the settlement itself. About 200 inhumations and two cremation burials as well as isolated skulls and bones attest to complex mortuary practices. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of 90 human, 48 faunal, and seven cereal samples provide a rich database for dietary reconstruction. The results point to a diet that was largely based on C3 plants with a limited contribution of herbivore or pig meat and/or dairy products. Divergent isotope ratios can be attributed to the consumption of chicken meat/eggs or seasonally available salmon. Moreover, the contribution of C4 plants, supposedly millet, to human diets is well documented at Basel as well as at other central European Iron Age sites. We found no significant dietary distinctions between males and females. In children, indications for breastfeeding terminate between 1.5 and about 4 years of age, with isotopic differences emerging with regard to the investigated skeletal elements. The stable isotope data from different burial contexts, forms of mortuary practice, and presence or type of funerary objects overlap widely, providing only tentative indications for dietary differentiation within the living population. These findings distinguish Basel-Gasfabrik from other Iron Age sites and call for further integrative studies for deciphering the complex mechanisms behind the highly differentiated mortuary practices in the late Iron Age.
Summarises archaeological, isotopic and osteological evidence from LBK burials in southern Bavaria
Food production provoked social inequality in agricultural societies. Starting in the European late Neolithic, conspicuously equipped inhumations with elaborate grave architecture indicated representatives of local and possibly regional elites. However, burials are always shaped by a complex combination of the desires of the deceased and of the bereaved, along with ritual customs and norms. Therefore, a superior burial may not always be preceded by long-term superior life conditions. One widely accepted characteristic of social distinction is access to different, supposedly higher-quality food, which is deducible from light stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen in bone collagen (δ13C and δ15N). Four remarkable cases of high-elite individuals from the modern territory of Germany spanning from the Early Bronze Age to Medieval times exhibited δ15N values that exceeded those of contemporaneous “commoner” populations significantly. This demonstrates outstanding dietary compositions, including larger shares of meat and dairy products but also possibly fish, poultry, and the meat of young animals. The results support enduringly different lifestyles and privileges for the representatives of the respective highest social class, despite very different prehistoric and historic contexts.
Food production provoked social inequality in agricultural societies. Starting in the European late Neolithic, conspicuously equipped inhumations with elaborate grave architecture indicated representatives of local and possibly regional elites. However, burials are always shaped by a complex combination of the desires of the deceased and of the bereaved, along with ritual customs and norms. Therefore, a superior burial may not
always be preceded by long-term superior life conditions. One widely accepted characteristic of social distinction is access to different, supposedly higher-quality food, which is deducible from light stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen in bone collagen (d13C and d15N). Four remarkable cases of high-elite individuals from the modern territory of Germany spanning from the Early Bronze Age to Medieval times exhibited d15N values that exceeded those of contemporaneous “commoner” populations significantly. This demonstrates outstanding dietary compositions, including larger shares of meat and dairy products but also possibly fish, poultry, and the meat of young animals. The results support enduringly different lifestyles and privileges for the representatives of the respective highest social class, despite very different prehistoric
and historic contexts.
Der Forschungsstand zum mittelneolithischen Siedlungswesen ist äußerst lückenhaft. Für viele Regio-nen liegen kaum Daten vor, die Auskunft darüber geben könnten, wie die Siedlungen strukturiert waren oder wie die Wirtschaftsweise ihrer Bewohner zu rekonstruieren ist. Noch weniger Informationen existieren zu mittelneoli-thischen Siedlungen mit Kreisgrabenanlage. Am nord-westbayerischen Fundort Ippesheim konnten nun durch geomagnetische Prospektion, Grabungen, archäozoologi-sche sowie archäobotanische Analysen erste Ergebnisse zu den genannten Aspekten gewonnen werden. Abstract: L'état de la recherche sur l'habitat au Néolithi-que moyen est extrêmement lacunaire. Maintes régions n'ont guère livré de données sur l'organisation spatiale des habitats ou permettant de reconstituer le mode de subsistance de leurs habitants. On dispose encore moins d'informations sur les habitats néolithiques moyens avec système de fossés circulaires. Prospection géomagnéti-que, fouilles, analyses archéozoologiques et archéobota-niques ont livré de premiers résultats au site d'Ippesheim dans le Nord-Ouest de la Bavière.
Art und Weise des Nahrungserwerbs war in der vorgeschichtlichen Zeit verschiedenen Veränderungen unterworfen, von denen der Übergang von der über-wiegend aneignenden Lebensweise des Paläolithikums zur überwiegend produzierenden des Neolithikums und späterer Epochen nur die bedeutendste markiert. Damit dürften auch Veränderungen in der relativen Zusam-mensetzung der Nährstoffe verbunden gewesen sein. Unter diesen kommen die Proteine am stärksten dem Aufbau von Körperstrukturen zugute, so daß der Ei-weißgehalt ein häufig herangezogenes Qualitätskriteri-um zur Beurteilung der Nahrungsversorgung darstellt. Nachweisbar ist die vorgeschichtliche Versorgung mit Eiweiß jedoch nur indirekt, weswegen in diesem Bei-trag zunächst verschiedene Nachweisansätze skizziert und einige zu vermutende Veränderungen in der Ver-sorgung thesenhaft aufgezeigt werden, bevor mit der menschlichen Körperhöhe ein weiterer Indikator vor-gestellt wird. Dieser bildet die Zielvariable in dem seit 2011 am Institut für Prähistorische Archäologie der FU Berlin laufenden und von der DFG geförderten Projekt "Lebensbedingungen und biologischer Lebensstan-dard in der Vorgeschichte Europas und Südwestasiens (LiVES)" 1 . Die archäozoologische Forschung kann mittels der Tierartenbestimmung, anhand von Schlachtspuren, über Knochengewichte und Mindestindividuenzahlen quantifizierende Aussagen über das Eiweißangebot in Form von Fleisch machen 2 . Die Archäobotanik hin-gegen kann für pflanzliche Eiweißquellen, zu denen insbesondere die Hülsenfrüchte zählen, hier oft nur begrenzt quantitative Angaben machen . Unter den tie-rischen Eiweißquellen ist die Milchnutzung besonders schwierig nachzuweisen, da sie osteologisch bisher kaum am Fundmaterial ablesbar ist . Die geschlechts-spezifische Zusammensetzung sowie Schlachtal-teranalysen erlauben zumindest theoretisch die Unterscheidung zwischen der Fleisch-und Sekundär-produktnutzung , doch letztere umfaßt auch die Nut-zung von Haaren und Wolle und die Arbeitsleistung. Artefakte, wie z. B. die seit der Linienbandkeramik 1 Details zum Projekt finden sich unterNachwuchsgruppe/index.html. Dieser Text entstand im Jubiläumsjahr 2009 im Vorfeld der Antragsstellung an die DFG und wurde 2010 eingereicht; für die Drucklegung wurde er 201 inhalt-lich gekürzt und insbesondere im Bereich der Statistik überarbeitet. Neu erschienene Literatur konnte nur in Ausnahmefällen berücksich-tigt werden. Ich danke
The subject of this article is the radiocarbon dating on bones in the western European Neolithic. By gathering 14 C dates for 2 examples, one chosen in the middle Neolithic of the Rhine region and the other in the end of the early Neolithic in the same region and in the Paris Basin, a significant gap appears between the sum probabilities of dates on charcoals and the ones obtained with bones. A comparison between these results with the few available dendrochronological dates shows that dates on bones seem too young, while the sequence based on charcoals fits. The existence of too-young 14 C dates of bones is not new: this phenomenon was already indicated in previous studies. Most explanations agree that there was a source of contamination, during the sample's burial or its treatment in laboratory. These examples illustrate that consequences can be heavy on a chronology built, partly or entirely, on 14 C dates of bones.
The early Neolithic in northern Central Europe ought to be the theatre in which
incoming farmersmeet local hunter-gatherers, with greater or lesser impact. By way of contrast, the authors use isotope analysis in a cemetery beside the Danube to describe a peaceful, well-integrated community with a common diet and largely indigenous inhabitants. Men and women may have had different mobility strategies, but the isotopes did not signal special origins or diverse foodproducing roles.Other explanations attend the variations in the burial rites of individuals and their distribution into cemetery plots.
In this paper we reconstruct the palaeodietary setting of LBK Vaihingen an der Enz, south-west Germany (later sixth millennium cal. bc) using δ13C and δ15N values of human and faunal bone collagen and of charred plant remains from cereal crops (e.g. emmer and einkorn wheat) and pulses (lentil and pea). Our examination of this Neolithic dietary ‘food web’ incorporates crop δ15N values within a linear-mixing model to examine the estimated proportions of animal and plant protein in the human diet. We interpret the stable isotope dietary model outcomes together with accompanying archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological evidence to shed light on the role of crops in land use strategies and human diet, and conclude that (manured) crops probably formed the dominant protein source.
The processes that shaped modern European mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation remain unclear. The initial peopling by Palaeolithic
hunter-gatherers ~42,000 years ago and the immigration of Neolithic farmers into Europe ~8000 years ago appear to have played
important roles but do not explain present-day mtDNA diversity. We generated mtDNA profiles of 364 individuals from prehistoric
cultures in Central Europe to perform a chronological study, spanning the Early Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age (5500 to
1550 calibrated years before the common era). We used this transect through time to identify four marked shifts in genetic
composition during the Neolithic period, revealing a key role for Late Neolithic cultures in shaping modern Central European
genetic diversity.
Theories about the emergence and spread of farming in western Eurasia have a long research history. Occasionally, climate fluctuations have served as explanations for short-term culture change. However, the entire Holocene climate fluctuation sequence has so far not been regarded. First steps towards a theory which combines the successive stages in Neolithization and early to Mid-Holocene climate fluctuations are described.
We present a mathematical treatment of the kinetic equations that describe isotopologue and isotopomer speciation and fractionation during enzyme-catalyzed biochemical reactions. These equations, presented here with the name GEBIK (general equations for biochemical isotope kinetics) and GEBIF (general equations for biochemical isotope fractionation), take into account microbial biomass and enzyme dynamics, reaction stoichiometry, isotope substitution number, and isotope location within each isotopologue and isotopomer. In addition to solving the complete GEBIK and GEBIF, we also present and discuss two approximations to the full solutions under the assumption of biomass-free and enzyme steady-state, and under the quasi-steady-state assumption as applied to the complexation rate. The complete and approximate approaches are applied to observations of biological denitrification in soils. Our analysis highlights that the full GEBIK and GEBIF provide a more accurate description of concentrations and isotopic compositions of substrates and products throughout the reaction than do the approximate forms. We demonstrate that the isotopic effects of a biochemical reaction depend, in the most general case, on substrate and complex concentrations and, therefore, the fractionation factor is a function of time. We also demonstrate that inverse isotopic effects can occur for values of the fractionation factor smaller than 1, and that reactions that do not discriminate isotopes do not necessarily imply a fractionation factor equal to 1.
The processes involved in the transformation of society from Mesolithic hunter-gatherers to Neolithic farmers were complex. They involved changes not only in subsistence but also in how people thought about themselves and their worlds, from their pasts to their animals. Two sets of protagonists have often been lined up in the long-running debates about these processes: on the one hand incoming farmers and on the other indigenous hunter-gatherers. Both have found advocates as the dominant force in the transitions to a new way of life. North-west Europe presents a very rich data set for this fundamental change, and research has both extended and deepened our knowledge of regional sequences, from the sixth to the fourth millennia bc. One of the most striking results is the evident diversity from northern Spain to southern Scandinavia. No one region is quite like another; hunter-gatherers and early farmers alike were also varied and the old labels of Mesolithic and Neolithic are increasingly inadequate to capture the diversity of human agency and belief. Surveys of the most recent evidence presented here also strongly suggest a diversity of transformations. Some cases of colonization on the one hand and indigenous adoption on the other can still be argued, but many situations now seem to involve complex fusions and mixtures. This wide-ranging set of papers offers an overview of this fundamental transition.
A holistic and comprehensive account of the nature of the transition from hunting to farming in prehistory. It addresses for the first time the main bioarchaeological aspects such as changes in mobility, behaviour, diet and population dynamics. This book is of major interest to the relevant audience since it offers for the first time a global perspective on the bioarchaeology of the transition to agriculture. It includes contributions from world-class researchers, with a particular emphasis on advances in methods (e.g. ancient DNA of pathogens, stable isotope analysis, etc.). The book specifically addresses the following aspects associated with the transition to agriculture in various world regions: Changes in adult and subadult stature and subadult growth profiles.
(13)C/^(12)C ratios have been determined for plant tissue from 104 species representing 60 families. Higher plants fall into two categories, those with low δ_(PDB1) ^(13)C values (-24 to -34‰) and those with high δ ^(13)C values (-6 to -19‰). Algae have δ^(13)C values of -12 to -23‰. Photosynthetic fractionation leading to such values is discussed.
In: Archäometrie. Methoden und Anwendungsbeispiele. A. Hauptmann & V. Pingel (Hrsg.) Schweizerbart´sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 2008, 46-66
The isotopic ratios of common light elements often provide useful information about past geologic, environmental, or biologic history. Bender’s (1968) clear identification of two distinct isotopic values for carbon from C3 and C4 plant organic matter led to the experiments which showed that animal δ13C values were closely related to dietary values (DeNiro and Epstein 1978a; Tieszen et al. 1983). Results from field applications (DeNiro and Epstein 1978b; Vogel 1978; Tieszen et al. 1979; Tieszen and Imbamba 1980) established the usefulness of these tracers and soon led to numerous archaeological studies. C and N, both present in bone collagen, have been most useful to suggest marine versus terrestrial dependence, to establish maize utilization or dependence on legumes, and to identify relative trophic-level positions or carnivory versus herbivory. Recently, attention has been focused on the use of bioapatite CO3 (Lee-Thorp et al. 1989a, 1989b; Lee-Thorp and van der Merwe 1991) as a supplement to collagen, especially in bones older than 10000 years, and as an adjunct to collagen for estimates of carnivory. The 180 signal in bioapatite also has the potential to provide information on the water status of the individual or the environment. Sulfur isotopes δ
34
S), when present in sufficient quantities, as in hair or skin, are also useful and in some cases can distinguish clearly between marine and terrestrial dietary sources (Krouse and Herbert 1988).
Through integrated analysis of archaeobotanical and artefactual distributions across a settlement, the authors discover 'neighbourhoods' using different cultivation areas in the surrounding landscape. Differences between groups also emerge over the life of the settlement in the use of special plants, such as opium poppy and feathergrass. Spatial configurations of cultivation and plant use map out the shifting social geographies of a Neolithic community.
From about 5500 cal BC to soon after 5000 cal BC, the lifeways of the first farmers of central Europe, the LBK culture (Linearbandkeramik), are seen in distinctive practices of longhouse use, settlement forms, landscape choice, subsistence, material culture and mortuary rites. Within the five or more centuries of LBK existence a dynamic sequence of changes can be seen in, for instance, the expansion and increasing density of settlement, progressive regionalisation in pottery decoration, and at the end some signs of stress or even localised crisis. Although showing many features in common across its very broad distribution, however, the LBK phenomenon was not everywhere the same, and there is a complicated mixture of uniformity and diversity.
This major study takes a strikingly large regional sample, from northern Hungary westwards along the Danube to Alsace in the upper Rhine valley, and addresses the question of the extent of diversity in the lifeways of developed and late LBK communities, through a wide-ranging study of diet, lifetime mobility, health and physical condition, the presentation of the bodies of the deceased in mortuary ritual. It uses an innovative combination of isotopic (principally carbon, nitrogen and strontium, with some oxygen), osteological and archaeological analysis to address difference and change across the LBK, and to reflect on cultural change in general.
Stable isotope ratios (δ(13) C and δ(15) N) were measured in human burials from the post-medieval (16th-18th c. AD) Carmelite friary burial grounds at Aalst, a town in Flanders, Belgium. Dietary patterns of 39 adult individuals were analyzed, from a mixed monastic and lay population buried in three different locations, reflecting groups with differing social status. The data show significant variation in the consumption of perhaps meat, but certainly also marine protein between females and males. This result represents a remarkable continuity with medieval dietary patterns, suggesting that the social and economic changes of the early modern period had a limited effect on everyday life. When both sexes were examined together, individuals buried in the cloister garth consumed significantly less marine protein compared to people buried in the church, likely reflecting social stratification. No statistical differences were observed between isotopic values from the church and the cloister alley, suggesting a similarly diverse diet of the monastic part of the buried population and that of the richer lay population. Finally, the hypothesis that diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) is linked to a diet rich in animal protein was tested. No systematic or statistically significant differences between pathological and non-pathological bones from the same individuals affected with DISH were observed, and no statistical differences were found between individuals with DISH and individuals without DISH. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The goal of this research is to explore status-based differences in diet of the peasants, monks and elites interred at the medieval Cistercian monastery of Øm Kloster. In order to accomplish this task bone samples were taken from 98 individuals from the monastery for the stable isotopic analysis of carbon and nitrogen found in both bone collagen and apatite. Significant differences were found in the diet of these three groups. Elites demonstrated significantly enriched δ15N and δ13C values and had the smallest δ13Ccoll–ap spacing in comparison to the peasant and monastic population. Although there were no changes in the diet of the elite or peasant population through time, the monastic diet shifted from resembling the diet of the peasant population early in the period to more closely matching that of the elites at the close of the period, although small sample size precluded the significance testing of this shift. This research suggests that social status played a considerable role in the types and quantity of food resources available to a given individual in society and that there were some socially based differences in the medieval Danish diet.
Red deer (Cervus elaphus) is a flexible species that survived the significant climatic and environmental change toward warming temperature and forested landscape of the Late-glacial to early Holocene transition (ca. 17–6 ka cal BP). To investigate the conditions of ethological adaptation of red deer at that time, isotopic analysis of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur in collagen (δ13Ccoll, δ15Ncoll, δ34Scoll) and of oxygen in phosphate (δ18Op) were performed on red deer from archaeological sites of the French Jura and the western Alps. Fifty out of eighty two samples benefited from direct AMS radiocarbon dating, which confirmed the few number of red deer record during the cold Younger Dryas oscillation (ca. 12.8–11.6 ka cal BP) in Western Europe. The French Jura red deer showed a significant decrease in their δ13Ccoll values and increase in their δ15Ncoll values in the early Holocene compared to the Late-glacial, which is most likely due to the change in environment from open areas with low pedogenic activity to warm dense forests with increasing soil maturity. In contrast, the stable δ13Ccoll and δ15Ncoll values over time in the western Alps were thought to indicate a change to higher altitude for the red deer habitat in this mountainous region. A decrease of the δ18Op values between the Late-glacial and the early Holocene was observed in the western Alps red deer, in contrast to the expected increase with rising temperature which was indeed confirmed for the French Jura red deer. The multi-isotope results pointed to open areas home range at higher altitude for the Alps red deer in the Holocene compared to the previous period. The similarity of the δ34Scoll patterns with those of the δ15Ncoll suggested the primarily influence of soil activity on the 34S abundances recorded by red deer in a purely terrestrial context. Red deer of the French Jura on one hand and of the western Alps on the other hand showed different adaptive response to the global warming of the early Holocene, with an ethological change in the first case and a change in home range in the second case.
Archived wheat grain and straw samples from the unfertilised plot of the Broadbalk Continuous Wheat Experiment at Rothamsted, England, were used to investigate the trends in stable C isotope ratios since 1845. Grain δ13C was higher than straw δ13C. Both grain and straw δ13C have decreased by approximately 2.5–2.8‰ over the last 153 years, and since the 1960s the decrease has been more rapid than the decrease of the δ13C of atmospheric CO2. The C isotope discrimination (Δ), and hence the ratio of CO2 concentration in leaf intercellular space to that in the ambient air (c
i/c
a), remained relatively stable or decreased slightly between 1845 and the mid-1960s, then increased considerably. The period with increasing Δ and c
i/c
a corresponds to the introduction of the modern short-straw cultivars of wheat. When grown on the unfertilised plot in the same seasons, a modern wheat cultivar had slightly higher Δ values than an old cultivar. The c
i derived from both grain and straw Δ have increased by 33–37% over the last 153 years, with the increase being more rapid after than before the mid-1960s. However, there was no clear trend in the yields of straw and grain, primarily because of the limitations of N and other nutrients, and also because of large year-to-year variations.
¹³C/¹²C ratios have been determined for plant tissue from 104 species representing 60 families. Higher plants fall into two categories, those with low δPDBI¹³C values (—24 to —34‰) and those with high δ ¹³C values (—6 to —19‰). Algae have δ ¹³C values of —12 to —23‰. Photosynthetic fractionation leading to such values is discussed.
The quality of bone collagen extracts is central to the14C dating and isotope palaeodietary analysis of bone. The intactness and purity of the extracted gelatin (“collagen”) is strongly dependent on the extent of diagenetic degradation, contamination and the type of extraction method. Possible chemical, elemental and isotopic parameters for the assessment of “collagen” quality are discussed. The most important distinction that can be made is the one between contaminated bone (mostly from temperate zones), and bone low in collagen content (mostly from arid and tropical zones). The latter shows more variability in all quality parameters than the former. The natural level of contamination is mostly so low that stable isotopic measurements are not impaired, although14C measurements can be. It is concluded that there is no unequivocal way to detect natural levels of contamination with the discussed parameters, although their use can identify many cases. In low “collagen” bone, the parameters can identify the great majority of problematic samples: although deviations in these parameters do not necessarily mean isotopic alterations, the increased background found in these samples makes most samples unusable.
The isotopic composition of an element records information about its history. Given a fossil, it is possible to analyse the isotopic composition of the elements in the fossil and to use this to reconstruct the diet that the animal consumed. The process of dietary reconstruction, however, is far from simple. Biological systems are quite complex and can themselves introduce isotopic fractionations that may distort the dietary information. The aim of this paper is to review the concepts of isotope fractionation under steady-state conditions to provide a framework for discussion of dietary reconstruction. Among the elements of interest for dietary reconstruction, nitrogen bears a distinct role. This is because nitrogen is almost unique to protein. A secondary aim of this paper is then to review nitrogen metabolism. The final aim is to combine these in postulating a simple isotopic model of nitrogen metabolism.