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Economic strategies at Bronze Age and Early Iron Age upland sites in the North Caucasus
... The growing stable isotope evidence from pre-and Early-Middle Bronze and Early Iron Age sites (4th-1st millennium bc) in the region indicates that the local pastoralist groups likely adopted millet into their diet at the end of the 2nd millennium bc (the regional turn from the Late Bronze to the Early Iron Age). This is the time when the high-altitude settlement system was relocated to the valleys and the economic focus shifted towards agriculture [53][54][55] . ...
... At the time, the transect from the upper Dniester to the lower Danube and Transylvania, and further into southeastern Romania and northeastern Bulgaria, was the area of the Noua-Sabatinovka-Coslogeni cultural complex, a tradition seen as an "eastern intrusion" 78 [889] that maintained trade in metal objects with much of central-eastern Europe 79 [228][229][230][231][232]. Broomcorn millet grains were recorded at the sites occupied by these groups 80 , which could have served as a medium for the transmission of broomcorn millet further to the west and south. The westward spread could have proceeded up the Danube, through long-established communication and exchange networks via which a number of other goods were distributed, such as metals, amber, and decorative objects 79 [45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57], 81,82 [164-196], 83 . ...
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Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is not one of the founder crops domesticated in Southwest Asia in the early Holocene, but was domesticated in northeast China by 6000 BC. In Europe, millet was reported in Early Neolithic contexts formed by 6000 BC, but recent radiocarbon dating of a dozen 'early' grains cast doubt on these claims. Archaeobotanical evidence reveals that millet was common in Europe from the 2nd millennium BC, when major societal and economic transformations took place in the Bronze Age. We conducted an extensive programme of AMS-dating of charred broomcorn millet grains from 75 prehistoric sites in Europe. Our Bayesian model reveals that millet cultivation began in Europe at the earliest during the sixteenth century BC, and spread rapidly during the fifteenth/fourteenth centuries BC. Broomcorn millet succeeds in exceptionally wide range of growing conditions and completes its lifecycle in less than three summer months. Offering an additional harvest and thus surplus food/fodder, it likely was a transformative innovation in European prehistoric agriculture previously based mainly on (winter) cropping of wheat and barley. We provide a new, high-resolution chronological framework for this key agricultural development that likely contributed to far-reaching changes in lifestyle in late 2nd millennium BC Europe.
... Eine andere Möglichkeit wäre der direkte Konsum von C4-Pflanzen durch den Menschen, der oft mit dem Aufkommen von domestizierter Hirse in Verbindung gebracht wird(Trifonov et al. 2017). Angebaute domestizierte Pflanzen spielten in Ipatovo und im Nordkaukasus jedoch wahrscheinlich zu verschiedenen Zeiten unterschiedliche Rollen und waren mindestens bis in die Spätbronzezeit eher unbedeutend(Knipper et al. 2018;Kohl 2007; Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute 2012; Shishlina 2008; für den Südkaukasus siehe allerdings Herrscher et al. 2018). Der Anbau domestizierter Pflanzen für die saisonale Fütterung von Haustieren wurde bereits für die pastoralen Kulturen des 3. Jt. v.Chr. ...
Analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes permits a dietary reconstruction of humans and animals in the past. A large burial
mound (kurgan) of ìburial mound group 3î was excavated near the town of Ipatovo, Stavropol region, Russia, in 1998/99. Of the 195
graves recorded in Kurgan 2, 34 date to the Bronze Age, i.e., to the time period from the late 4th to the end of the 2nd millennium
BCE. A Bachelor thesis at the University of Basel investigated the diet of all 36 Bronze Age individuals using stable isotope analysis.
The results show a trend towards a mixed diet of C3 and C4 plants for the early and the late Bronze Age. C4 plants could have been
consumed directly, or indirectly as a result of the consumption of the meat or products of animals that fed on C4 plants. This influence
cannot be observed for the middle Bronze Age. The nitrogen isotope ratios suggest that products of terrestrial animals were a major
component of human diets, although the additional consumption of freshwater fish is also possible. Overall, we found no conspicuous
differences either between the sexes or between burials with or without exceptional grave goods.
... In addition to providing a deeper understanding of mobility at the individual and community level, isotopic approaches are also useful for understanding other distinctions in lived experience between highland and lowland groups, particularly when it comes to subsistence. Knipper et al. (2018), for example, explicitly compare the diets of groups exploiting the Caucasus uplands and groups exploiting the adjacent humid steppe in their diachronic exploration of the Russian North Caucasus region. Here, isotopic analysis of carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) isotopes preserved in the human bone collagen of "mountain dwellers and valley residents" (135), combined with GIS analyses of land type and use, revealed dietary shifts that appear to have been linked to changes in settlement patterns and subsistence practices. ...
In this introduction to the thematic issue Living and Dying in Mountain Landscapes, we develop an analytical framework for the bioarchaeology and mortuary archaeology of highland landscapes. We highlight new theoretical, methodological, and comparative contributions to the anthropological study of upland spaces. Theoretical contributions include examining identity, connectivity, and adaptation from an explicitly biocultural perspective. By bridging the biological anthropological focus on the somatic with an archaeological focus on the long term, bioarchaeology allows for the development of an embodied understanding of “marginal” highland environments, investigating how such landscapes shape and are shaped by human action over time. Recent advances in bioarchaeological methods, including isotopic analyses of mobility and diet and ancient DNA studies of kinship and relatedness, are combined with traditional osteological examinations of age, sex, ancestry, and disease to reconstruct the lifeways of mountain communities. These methodological advances take advantage of the topographical, geological, and ecological diversity of mountain landscapes. Finally, a comparative bioarchaeology of upland and lowland communities across space and time provides a deeper understanding of highland adaptations and identities. The papers share a number of unifying themes, including the impact of mountain landscapes on channeling resource control, creating or mediating diverse identities, and the importance of interdisciplinary investigations for developing an understanding of the relationship between people and place. As this issue demonstrates, the study of human remains must be situated within a holistic bioarchaeological approach to life and death in order to understand the dynamic relationships between people and the highland environments they occupy. En esta introducción a la cuestión temática 'Vivir y morir en paisajes de montaña’ desarrollamos un marco analítico para la bioarqueología y la arqueología mortuoria de los paisajes serranos. Destacamos un conjunto de nuevas contribuciones teóricas, metodológicas, y comparativas al estudio antropológico de estos paisajes. Entre ellas destacan los análisis de la identidad, la conectividad y la adaptación, todos aproximados desde una perspectiva explícitamente biocultural. Al unir el énfasis bioantropológico en lo somático con el interés arqueológico en la larga duración, la bioarqueología favorece una aproximación corporizada a los ambientes “marginales” de las tierras altas, investigando cómo estos paisajes moldean y son moldeados por la acción humana a lo largo del tiempo. Los recientes avances en métodos bioarqueológicos, como los análisis isotópicos de movilidad y dieta o los estudios de ADN antiguo sobre parentesco y otros principios de existencia compartida, se combinan con los tradicionales exámenes osteológicos de edad, sexo, ascendencia y enfermedad para reconstruirlas formas de vida de las comunidades de montaña. Estos avances metodológicos aprovechan la diversidad topográfica, geológica y ecológica de los entornos serranos. Finalmente, una comprensión más profunda de las adaptaciones e identidades de las serranías requiere de una aproximación bioarqueológica comparativa de las comunidades serranas y de las que habitan las tierras bajas a través del tiempo y del espacio. Todos estos trabajos comparten una serie de temas comunes: la manera en la que los paisajes de montaña canalizan las formas de control de los recursos, la creación o mediación de distintas identidades y la importancia de las investigaciones interdisciplinares para desarrollar una comprensión de la relación entre personas y lugares. Como se demuestra a lo largo de este número, el estudio de los restos humanos requiere de un enfoque bioarqueológico holístico de la vida y la muerte que permita comprender las relaciones dinámicas que se desarrollaron entre las personas y sus respectivos entornos serranos.
... Our study includes representatives of all major Bronze Age groups in the North Caucasus. They reflect affiliations with either mountain-associated cultural groups such as the Darkveti-Meshoko Eneolithic (4700-3500 calBCE) 9 , the Maykop phenomenon (3900-2900 calBCE) 7 , communities of a Northern variant of the Kura-Araxes culture (3600-2500 calBCE) 10 , the North Caucasian cultural formation or the mountain groups of the post-Catacomb grave horizon 11 , or to large-scale cultural phenomena of the steppe such as the Don-Kaspi Steppe Eneolithic (4300-4100 calBCE) 12 , the Yamnaya (3300-2600/2500 calBCE), the Catacomb cultural communities (2800-2200 calBCE) 5 and the post-Catacomb Lola formation (2200-1700 calBCE) 13 . To represent the South Caucasus Kura-Araxes culture 6 (3600-2500 calBCE), we also included individuals from the Kaps site in present-day Armenia. ...
Surveys carried out in the Javakheti Plateau during the last decade have improved our knowledge of the Bronze Age archaeology of this highland zone of the Lesser Caucasus of Georgia. Surveys have been conducted all over the area surrounding the Mt. Chikiani volcano, along the southern terraces of the Tsalka Reservoir, and some of the northwestern slopes of Mt. Paravani. All these territories have yielded impressive evidence of megalithic monuments, stone-walled villages, kurgans, basalt and schist quarries, as well as obsidian extraction and production areas. Among these latter is an important circular platform made of basalt boulders, above which a workshop for the manufacture of obsidian bifacial arrowheads and spearheads was discovered. All the aforementioned features have been GPS-recorded and photographed with the use of a non-professional small drone. They show that the entire region is a monumental landscape, which most probably started to be built around the beginning of the Bronze Age, as many of the lithic finds would suggest.
The North Central Asia Isotopic Database (NCAID) is an open-access dataset of stable isotope measurements from archaeological remains, spanning from the Early Neolithic until present-day in North Central Asia. With 3,143 individual entries corresponding to data accumulated over more than 20 years of research, this comprehensive dataset encompasses measurements of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in organic fractions from archaeological humans, animals, and plants. NCAID incorporates diverse supporting information, providing geographical information, archaeological context descriptions, and chronology. This resource facilitates research into past human lifeways, paleo-environments/climates, and animal management practices throughout North Central Asia and will be continually updated as more novel data is released.
Two millets, Panicum miliaceum and Setaria italica , were domesticated in northern China, around 6000 BC. Although its oldest evidence is in Asia, possible independent domestication of these species in the Caucasus has often been proposed. To verify this hypothesis, a multiproxy research program (Orimil) was designed to detect the first evidence of millet in this region. It included a critical review of the occurrence of archaeological millet in the Caucasus, up to Antiquity; isotopic analyses of human and animal bones and charred grains; and radiocarbon dating of millet grains from archaeological contexts dated from the Early Bronze Age (3500–2500 BC) to the 1 st Century BC. The results show that these two cereals were cultivated during the Middle Bronze Age (MBA), around 2000–1800 BC, especially Setaria italica which is the most ancient millet found in Georgia. Isotopic analyses also show a significant enrichment in ¹³ C in human and animal tissues, indicating an increasing C 4 plants consumption at the same period. More broadly, our results assert that millet was not present in the Caucasus in the Neolithic period. Its arrival in the region, based on existing data in Eurasia, was from the south, without excluding a possible local domestication of Setaria italica .
The flanks of the Caucasus Mountains and the steppe landscape to their north offered highly productive grasslands for Bronze Age herders and their flocks of sheep, goat, and cattle. While the archaeological evidence points to a largely pastoral lifestyle, knowledge regarding the general composition of human diets and their variation across landscapes and during the different phases of the Bronze Age is still restricted. Human and animal skeletal remains from the burial mounds that dominate the archaeological landscape and their stable isotope compositions are major sources of dietary information. Here, we present stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data of bone collagen of 105 human and 50 animal individuals from the 5th millennium BC to the Sarmatian period, with a strong focus on the Bronze Age and its cultural units including Maykop, Yamnaya, Novotitorovskaya, North Caucasian, Catacomb, post-Catacomb and late Bronze Age groups. The samples comprise all inhumations with sufficient bone preservation from five burial mound sites and a flat grave cemetery as well as subsamples from three further sites. They represent the Caucasus Mountains in the south, the piedmont zone and Kuban steppe with humid steppe and forest vegetation to its north, and more arid regions in the Caspian steppe. The stable isotope compositions of the bone collagen of humans and animals varied across the study area and reflect regional diversity in environmental conditions and diets. The data agree with meat, milk, and/or dairy products from domesticated herbivores, especially from sheep and goats having contributed substantially to human diets, as it is common for a largely pastoral economy. This observation is also in correspondence with the faunal remains observed in the graves and offerings of animals in the mound shells. In addition, foodstuffs with elevated carbon and nitrogen isotope values, such as meat of unweaned animals, fish, or plants, also contributed to human diets, especially among communities living in the more arid landscapes. The regional distinction of the animal and human data with few outliers points to mobility radii that were largely concentrated within the environmental zones in which the respective sites are located. In general, dietary variation among the cultural entities as well as regarding age, sex and archaeologically indicated social status is only weakly reflected. There is, however, some indication for a dietary shift during the Early Bronze Age Maykop period.
The pace of transmission of domesticated cereals, including millet from China as well as wheat and barley from southwest Asia, throughout the vast pastoralist landscapes of the Eurasian Steppe (ES) is unclear. The rich monumental record of the ES preserves abundant human remains that provide a temporally deep and spatially broad record of pastoralist dietary intake. Calibration of human δ13C and δ15N values against isotope ratios derived from co-occurring livestock distinguish pastoralist consumption of millet from the products of livestock and, in some regions, identify a considerable reliance by pastoralists on C3 crops. We suggest that the adoption of millet was initially sporadic and consumed at low intensities during the Bronze Age, with the low-level consumption of millet possibly taking place in the Minusinsk Basin perhaps as early as the late third millennium cal BC. Starting in the mid-second millennium cal BC, millet consumption intensified dramatically throughout the ES with the exception of both the Mongolian steppe where millet uptake was strongly delayed until the end of first millennium cal BC and the Trans-Urals where instead barley or wheat gained dietary prominence. The emergence of complex, trans-regional political networks likely facilitated the rapid transfer of cultivars across the steppe during the transition to the Iron Age.
Innovation is the social act of appropriating new practices or techniques into an existing life. During the late 4th millennium BC, the populations of the North Caucasus and the neighbouring steppe adopted animal traction and vehicles into their lifescapes. The representation of this innovation,
however, suggests different intellectual discourses in the appropriation process. The Maikop communities selected the powerful driving force – cattle teams – for their burial representations, whereas the steppe communities chose to highlight the means of transportation – wagons. While the one emphasised a new form of extended labour and neglected the objects of traction, the other highlighted the new means of transportation and mobility, disregarding the ‘engines’ in the process. This article discusses the different
ways the same innovation can be appropriated in different communities and draws upon bioarchaeological studies to question the practical relevance of these innovations for the everyday life of the adopting societies.
Zu den vieldiskutierten Themen in der russisch-und ukrainischsprachigen Literatur gehört die Subsistenzwirtschaft in den osteuropäischen Steppen während der Kupfer- und der Bronzezeit. Hielt man in den ersten Jahrzehnten der Forschung über die wirtschaftsarchäologischen Aspekte der betreffenden Kulturen noch eine komplexe Wirtschaftsweise, die sich aus Ackerbauund Viehzucht zusammensetzte, für wahrscheinlich, nahm man in den sechziger und siebziger Jahren Abstand davon und hielt das Betreiben einer Viehzucht für die Lebensgrundlage im Steppenraum. Interessanterweise bildeten die Grabhügel, die in der offenen Steppenlandschaft, zum Teil relativ weit entfernt von Wasserläufen errichtet sind, eines der wichtigsten Argumentefür diese Überlegungen, nicht etwa archäozoologische Studien. Diese wurden von V. P. Šilov in einer jüngeren Arbeit nachgeliefert, in der er ausschließlich auf Tierknochen, die in kupfer und bronzezeitlichen Bestattungen in den Grabhügelngeborgen worden waren, Bezug nahm. Weitere Argumente für das Betreiben von Viehzucht, die seiner Auffassung nach mobil betrieben wurde, waren: die Steppe sei für effizienten Ackerbau nicht geeignet; langanhaltend besiedelte Plätze fehlten,die Zusammensetzung der Herden, in denen Kleines Hornvieh dominierte; die Steppenlandschaft sei zunehmend erschlossen worden, was durch die Grabhügel zum Ausdruck komme.
The influence of geothermally derived carbon on the radiocarbon dating of human bone from archaeological sites is poorly understood and has rarely been rigorously examined. This study identifies a previously unknown reservoir effect at the archaeological site of Klin-Yar in the Russian North Caucasus. AMS-dated human bones yielded results that were older than expected when compared with dates of coins found in the same grave contexts. We investigated the reasons for this offset by AMS dating modern plant, fish, and water samples to examine the source of the old carbon. We identified a potential source in geothermally derived riverine and spring water, with an apparent age of several thousand years, and hypothesize that carbon from here is being transferred through the food chain to humans. If humans consume resources from the local rivers, such as fish, then they ought to be affected by this reservoir offset. An extensive analysis of carbon and nitrogen isotopes of human and animal bone showed evidence for a mixed diet that may be masking the amount of freshwater-derived protein being consumed. Due to the highly variable nature of the 14C offset (0 to ~350 yr), no suitable average correction factor is applicable to correct for the human dates at the site. A 14C chronology based on dates obtained from terrestrial ungulate bones, which we subsequently obtained, is instead a more reliable indicator of age. © 2010 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona.
This paper presents carbon and nitrogen isotopic results from several Swiss freshwater fish (Esox lucius, Perca fluviatilis, Barbus barbus, Rutilus rutilus and other Cyprinidae) in order to provide information about their trophic level, feeding habits and provenance. Freshwater fish remains are regularly recovered from archaeological contexts in Switzerland, which attests to the importance of these aquatic food resources to past communities. However, it can be difficult to determine the effect of freshwater fish consumption in human bone isotope signatures by stable isotope ratio analysis. Therefore, an establishment of baseline isotope signatures of freshwater fish by region and time is necessary. Additionally, freshwater fish isotope analysis can serve as a backdrop for research on former aquatic isotopic ecology. We measured carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of 140 freshwater fish bone samples from sites dating between the 11th and 19th centuries AD. Suitable C:N ratios (2·9–3·6) were obtained from 56 of the samples, a rather low success rate that may be the result of diagenetic contamination and insufficient sample weight (<20 mg). A high inter- and intraspecies variability of freshwater fish isotope signature was observed. The δ¹⁵N results indicate a size and age-related trophic level effect. Heterogeneous carbon isotope signatures from samples from the same site could indicate spatial variation in isotope values within a single ecosystem or alternatively represent the use of different fishing grounds.
This paper presents the results of the first archaeobotanical investigation of Neolithic-Chalcolitich-period sites in eastern Ukraine and southwest Russia. The goal of this research is to understand the timeline of the earliest appearance and possible geographical origins of domesticated plants species in the region of study. The research conducted consists of the retrieval and study of macrobotanical remains and the analysis of plant impressions in pottery. Three possible corridors of influence upon agriculture in eastern Ukraine are postulated in this paper, originating from the Balkans, the Caucasus, and the Eurasian steppe.
Terraced field systems are a feature of many regions of the world and have been dated as early as 6000 cal BC in the Levant (Kuijt
et al
. in
Antiquity
81 (2007: 106–18)). The discovery of agricultural terraces in the northern Caucasus, reported here, extends their distribution into a new area. Relatively low population levels in the late medieval and early modern periods have preserved several blocks of terraced fields, some of them created at the beginning of the first millennium BC, others in the mid first millennium AD. The earlier terraced fields, associated with material and settlements of the Koban culture, culminated in over-exploitation of the land and exacerbated erosion during environmental change in the mid first millennium BC. The later series of terraced fields are of different form and are associated with the settlement in the area of communities of Alans in the first millennium AD. They largely avoided the areas rendered infertile by Koban period overexploitation. The morphology and chronology of the terraced field systems are explored using a combination of aerial photography, GIS analysis and field investigations.
Bronze Age human and animal bone collagen from several steppe Bronze Age cultures (i.e. Early Catacomb, East and West Manych Catacomb, and Lola cultures) shows large variations in 13 C and 15 N values. In general, we observed that the older the sample, the lower the 13 C and 15 N values. We hypothesize that more positive values of 13 C and 15 N are caused by change in diet and a more arid climate. For ancient sheep during drier periods of the Early Catacomb, East and West Manych Catacomb, and Lola cultures, we observed 2 groups with different C and N isotopic compositions, reflecting con-sumption of different types of fodder. During periods of aridization, C 4 and C 3 plants with high 15 N values appeared in the vegetation, also influencing bone collagen values. Human bones show reservoir effects, caused by aquatic diet components. These effects can be quantified by paired dating of human bone and associated terrestrial samples. Reservoir corrections have revised chronologies for the region. Some paired dates do not reveal reservoir effects. This can be explained in 2 alternative ways. One is that the human diet did not include aquatic components; rather, the diet was based on C 3 vegetation with high 15 N values (13–15‰), and flesh/milk of domesticated animals. An alternative explanation is that humans consumed food from freshwater resources without reservoir effects.
Human and animal bone collagen from different Steppe Bronze Age cultures, including the Yamnaya, East Manych Catacomb, and Lola cultures, show large variations in δ 13 C and δ 15 N values. More positive values of δ 13 C and δ 15 N are caused by change in diet and/or a more arid climate. Human bones show reservoir effects caused by aquatic diet compo-nents. These effects can be quantified by paired dating of human bone and associated terrestrial samples. Previous research showed reservoir corrections for several cultures of the Eurasian steppes Bronze Age, leading to a revision of the local chro-nologies. Additional investigations showed that some paired dates do not reveal reservoir effects. Recently, our database was extended significantly with new 13 C, 15 N, and 14 C analyses of the Lola, Krivaya, and Babino cultures. The size of the reservoir offset for the studied cultures is discussed.
Anthropogenic impact in prehistoric settlements results in a considerable alteration of soil microbial communities depending on intensity and the character of human activities. This paper present a case study from a Late Bronze Age settlement located in the high-mountain part of the North Caucasus (Russia). The site represents a community, which presumably specialized in intensive livestock herding. Samples from settlement soils anthropogenically affected in the past and unmodified background soils were taken and studied. Of particular interest were divergences in soil microbial communities, expected to indicate different activities and animal presence in the site. The total microbial biomass, their respiratory activity, the biomass of fungal mycelium and the proportion of dark-colored hyphae were determined, as well as the quantitative state of keratinophilic fungi.
Combined analysis of paleoenvironment, 13C, 15N, and 14C in bone, including paired dating of human bone and terrestrial materials (herbivore bone, wood, charcoal, and textile) has been performed on many samples excavated from Russian kurgan graves. The data can be used for dietary reconstruction, and reservoir corrections for 14C dating of human bone. The latter is essential for an accurate construction of chronologies for the Eneolithic and Bronze Age cultures of the Caspian steppes. © 2009 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona.
The "trophic level enrichment" between diet and body results in an overall increase in nitrogen isotopic values as the food chain is ascended. Quantifying the diet-body Δ(15) N spacing has proved difficult, particularly for humans. The value is usually assumed to be +3-5‰ in the archaeological literature. We report here the first (to our knowledge) data from humans on isotopically known diets, comparing dietary intake and a body tissue sample, that of red blood cells. Samples were taken from 11 subjects on controlled diets for a 30-day period, where the controlled diets were designed to match each individual's habitual diet, thus reducing problems with short-term changes in diet causing isotopic changes in the body pool. The Δ(15) N(diet-RBC) was measured as +3.5‰. Using measured offsets from other studies, we estimate the human Δ(15) N(diet-keratin) as +5.0-5.3‰, which is in good agreement with values derived from the two other studies using individual diet records. We also estimate a value for Δ(15) N(diet-collagen) of ≈6‰, again in combination with measured offsets from other studies. This value is larger than usually assumed in palaeodietary studies, which suggests that the proportion of animal protein in prehistoric human diet may have often been overestimated in isotopic studies of palaeodiet. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Sulphur isotope measurements of bone collagen from archaeological sites are beginning to be applied more often, yet there are no clear criteria to assess the quality of the collagen and therefore the validity of the sulphur isotope values. We provide elemental data from different methods (DNA sequences, amino acid sequences and mass spectrometric measurements) which are used to establish a reliable system of quality criteria for sulphur isotope analyses of bone collagen. The difference in the amount of sulphur from fish and mammalian collagen type I led to the suggestion to use different criteria to assess the in vivo character of the collagen between these two categories. For establishing quality ranges, the bone collagen of 140 modern animals were analysed. The amount of sulphur in fish and mammalian bone collagen is 0.63 ± 0.08% and 0.28 ± 0.07%, respectively. Based on these results we define for mammalian bone collagen an atomic C:S ratio of 600 ± 300 and an atomic N:S ratio of 200 ± 100, and for fish bone an atomic C:S ratio of 175 ± 50 and an atomic N:S ratio of 60 ± 20. These quality criteria were then applied to 305 specimens from different archaeological contexts.
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.
This paper explores the impact of animal manure application on the δ15N values of a broad range of crops (cereals and pulses), under a range of manuring levels/regimes and at a series of locations extending from northwest Europe to the eastern Mediterranean. We included both agricultural field experiments and areas where ‘traditional’ farming is practised. Our aim is to ground-truth interpretation of δ15N values in archaeobotanical crop remains as evidence of past growing conditions and husbandry practices. The results confirm the potentially radical impact of manuring on δ15N values in cereals, depending on manuring level, but indicate only a slight effect on pulses, which can fix atmospheric nitrogen. The expected geographical trend towards greater δ15N with increasing climatic aridity is not apparent, probably because the growing conditions for crops are ‘buffered’ through crop management. Each of these observations has fundamental implications for archaeobotanical interpretation of δ15N values as evidence of land use practices and (together with analysis of bone collagen/tooth enamel in potential consumers) palaeodiet.
Recent archaeological studies of human diet have used stable nitrogen isotope ratios (δ15N) from human bone collagen to infer the relative importance of terrestrial plant and animal foods. This approach is based on widely observed enrichment of δ15N up the food chain, plants having distinctly lower values than the herbivores that consume them. Studies of early farming diets in Britain, Denmark and Germany have tended to detect relatively high δ15N values (e.g. c. +9‰), interpreted as evidence of a diet largely based on animal products, though archaeobotanical evidence for crop cultivation (e.g. carbonised cereal grain and chaff) is widespread. This paper investigates the impact of manuring on δ15N values in modern cereals, and of charring on these cereal values. The results from two long-term experiments demonstrate that manuring significantly raises δ15N in cereal grain and chaff. Depending on manuring levels and frequency, it appears that human diets with a major component of such grain would conventionally be interpreted as indicating a largely animal-based diet or a mixed plant/animal diet. Moreover, preliminary analyses of experimentally charred grain and chaff from manured and unmanured conditions are promising for the extraction of reliable ancient δ15N values from archaeobotanical cereal remains. The wider implications of these results, and the need for further work, are discussed.
This study presents bone collagen carbon and nitrogen isotope data from the Migration Period cemeteries (fifth/sixth century AD) of Obermöllern and Rathewitz in Central Germany. The human average δ
13C ratios of −19.8 ± 0.3 ‰ and δ
15N ratios of 9.6 ± 0.9 ‰ (n = 43) reflect a mixed diet in a temperate C3-based ecosystem without significant difference between the two sites. The average offset between human and faunal δ
13C and δ
15N values indicates a significant contribution of plant food to the human diet that has different isotope ratios from the forage of the animals. It furthermore suggests the influence of land management on the δ
15N values. One adult male from Obermöllern stands out due to his elevated nitrogen isotope ratio, body height, grave goods, and burial position. The collagen isotope data of this study are comparable with data from other central European sites and confirm rather stable communities with moderate variation in the environmental conditions of arable land.
Local environmental conditions under dense canopy are known to result in depletion in 13C abundance in plants compared to an open land context. This canopy effect has been observed in tropical as well as in mid-latitude forest ecosystems. However, the impact of the canopy effect on tissue 13C abundance of temperate and boreal forest-dwelling herbivores has not been thoroughly explored. Nevertheless, the canopy effect has been suggested to explain a decrease of about 3‰ in collagen δ13C values in ancient large herbivores from western Europe during the forest expansion of the Late-Glacial–Early Holocene period (ca. 15,000–6000 cal BP). Some papers have considered the 13C decrease in large herbivore as the main result of global change in atmospheric CO2 content. A detailed review of δ13C values of large herbivores (reindeer, red deer, roe deer, and bison) from open and closed environments from high and mid-latitudes confirm that the canopy effect observed in plants is passed on to their consumers. In the Paris Basin, the decline in δ13C values of large herbivores at the Late-Glacial/Early Holocene transition around 10,000 years BP appears to be different according to the considered species, namely red deer, roe deer, and large bovines (bison and aurochs). Moreover, differences in the pattern of decrease in δ13C values are observed in red deer between French northern Alps and French Jura. These differences among species in their isotopic response through time for a given geographical location, and within species from different locations, suggest variance in ecological responses of species that are associated with the relative use of forested habitat. As a result, 13C abundances in collagen can be considered as a direct tracker of the degree of closure of the habitat of ancient herbivores.
-The Kislovodsk basin in the North Caucasian piedmonts – archaeology and GIS studies in a mountain cultural landscape -Landscape archaeology in a mountain terrain must take into account not only the remainders of a large variety of human activities, but also of a changeable and often extreme environment. The Kislovodsk basin in the North Caucasian piedmonts offers an excellent basis for such studies, due to the substantial archaeological research, methodical environmental studies, and one of the first multileveled archaeological geo-information systems in Russia. The history of settlement in this area begins in the Aeneolithic period in the 5 th millennium BC. During the Early Iron Age Koban culture (10 th -6 th century BC) and the Early Medieval Alanic Period (5 th -8 th century BC), however, human presence reached the highest intensity, with a dense settlement system and other sites in an apparent highly organised territorial structure. The paper gives an overview of the development of human activities in the research area, and outline issues and methods of further research. Among these are GIS analysis, a systematic survey of aerial photos, excavations, seasonality analysis, and paleo-environmental studies. An additional aspect of our work is the combination of the results of the territorial investigations with social analysis obtained from the large body of burials excavated in this region. RIASSUNTO -Il bacino di Kislovodsk nella fascia pedemontana nord-caucasica – archeologia e applicazioni GIS in un paesaggio culturale di montagna -L'archeologia del paesaggio in un territorio montuoso deve tenere in conside-razione non solo le conseguenze di una grande varietà di attività umane, ma anche di un ambiente mutevole e spesso estremo. Il bacino Kislovodsk nella fascia pedemontana nord-caucasica offre un'eccellente base per questo tipo di studi per le sostanziose ricerche archeologiche e i metodici studi ambientali in esso condotti, ed è uno dei primi sistemi geo-informativi archeologici multi-livelli in Russia. La storia insediativa in quest'area inizia nel periodo Eneolitico, nel V millennio a.C. Durante la cultura Koban dell'antica età del Ferro (X-VI sec. a.C.) e il periodo altomedievale alanico (V-VIII sec. a.C.), comunque, la presenza umana raggiunse la più alta intensità, con un sistema insediativo denso e altri siti in una struttura territoriale apparentemente ad alta organizzazione. L'articolo fornisce uno sguardo generale sullo sviluppo delle attività umane nell'area interessata dalla ricerca e sottolinea indirizzi e metodi per ulte-riori indagini, fra le quali analisi GIS, una ricognizione sistematica di fotografie aeree, scavi, analisi stagionali e studi paleo-ambientali. Un ulteriore aspetto del presente lavoro è la combinazione dei risultati delle indagini territoriali con analisi sociali ottenute dalle numerose sepolture scavate in questa regione.
Stable isotope signatures of lactating females and their nursing offspring were measured on 11 species, including herbivores, carnivores, hibernators, and non-hibernators. We hypothesized that: (1) nursing offspring would have stable isotope signatures that were a trophic level higher than their mothers, and (2) this pattern would be species-independent. The plasma of adult females had a ཋN enrichment over their diets of 4.1ǂ.7, but offspring plasma had a mean ཋN enrichment over maternal plasma of 0.9ǂ.8 and no C enrichment (0.0ǂ.6). The trophic level enrichment did not occur between mother and offspring because milk was depleted in both ཋN (1.0ǂ.5) and ཉC (2.1ǂ.9) relative to maternal plasma. Milk to offspring plasma enrichment was relatively small (ཋN enrichment of 1.9ǂ.7 and ཉC enrichment of 1.9ǂ.8) compared to the trophic level enrichment between the adults and their diets. While some species did have significant differences between the isotope signatures of mother and offspring, the differences were not related to whether they were hibernators or non-hibernators, carnivores or herbivores. Investigators wanting to use stable isotopes to quantify weaning or other lactation processes or diets of predators when both adults and nursing offspring are consumed must first establish the parameters that apply to a particular species/environment/diet combination.
This paper addresses the question of human palaeodietary adaptation in the Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age periods of the North Caucasus (South Russia) using stable isotope analysis. One of the key questions is the presence of fish in the diet. AMS radiocarbon dating of archaeological bone collagen has also been carried out to investigate potential radiocarbon reservoir effects in human skeletal material as a result of an aquatic diet. A fish component has previously been suggested in the diet of Iron Age and Bronze Age humans across Eurasia by isotopic research and radiocarbon dating of contemporaneous human and animal bones. In the North Caucasus however, isotopic data is scant. This study presents a new set of stable isotopic data from several Early Bronze Age sites, mainly belonging to the Maikop culture of the North Caucasus. The results show that the diversity in climate and environment across the northern Caucasus may be a causal factor for the patterns observed in the stable isotope values of terrestrial herbivores. This affects the isotopic values of the humans consuming them. The differences in δ15N and δ13C ranges of both humans and fauna were found to correlate strongly with geography and climate; the most enriched isotopic values are found in the dry steppe areas to the north. Overall, a relatively high enrichment in δ15N values of humans compared to local terrestrial herbivores and carnivores was observed. This indicates that aquatic resources were probably part of the Bronze Age diet in the region although the extent of this needs further investigation. The dramatic effect of environmental factors on isotopic values in the Early Bronze Age of the North Caucasus illustrates how confident conclusions cannot be drawn on the basis of a small number of samples from widely differing regions and time periods. Radiocarbon dating can provide a useful tool for identifying dietary derived reservoir ages in humans, potentially caused by a fish diet. With two possible exceptions, the nine human–animal bone pair dated as part of this study showed no consistent indication for a consistent reservoir effect.
Red deer bone collagen from Rochedane in the Jura (France) was analysed for carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition. The specimens range in 14C age from about 13 000 to 8000 yr BP (uncalibrated), and cover the Late-Glacial and Early Holocene, a time period during which climatic conditions shifted from periglacial to temperate. The carbon isotopic compositions of red deer collagen suggest changes in the vegetation cover around the site that are consistent with other palaeoenvironmental indicators, such as the palynological record in the Jura. The nitrogen isotopic compositions exhibit a large range of around 6‰ interpreted as reflecting changes in the intensity of N cycling coeval to vegetation changes. Red deer bone collagen appears thus as a valuable proxy for reconstructing palaeoenvironmental changes in continental western Europe during the Late-Glacial and Holocene.
Human and domesticate animal bone collagen δ15N values in prehistory differ generally by 3‰ or more from Neolithic to post- Roman times in Northwest Europe, leading to an assumed dietary animal protein fraction of 60–80% using a standard interpretation of δ15N values. We examine the assumptions on which this model rests and the limitations of our knowledge in the analysis of δ15N values in archaeology. We have developed a set of models which, with small changes made in assumptions (on the order of 1‰), can produce substantially lower estimates of the dietary animal protein fraction for given δ15N values. We consider the implications of various dietary animal protein fractions on agricultural carrying capacities and human population densities in prehistory.
The first appearance of the Neolithic Linearbandkeramik (LBK) in Central Germany occurred during the 6th millennium BC. However, though LBK sites are abundant in the German loess areas, there are only a few studies that reconstruct the diet of these first farmers using biochemical methods. Here we present the largest study undertaken to date on LBK material using stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen to reconstruct human diet and animal husbandry strategies. We analyzed the bone collagen of 97 human individuals and 45 associated animals from the sites of Derenburg, Halberstadt and Karsdorf in the Middle Elbe–Saale region of Central Germany. Mean adult human values are −19.9 ± 0.4‰ for δ13C and 8.7 ± 0.8‰ for δ15N. The δ13C values are typical for terrestrial, temperate European regions, whereas the δ15N values fall within an expected range for farming societies with a mixed diet consisting of products from domestic animals and plants. The consumption of unfermented dairy products is unlikely as there is direct palaeogenetic evidence of lactose intolerance available for one of the sites. There are no clear indications for dietary differences in sex. Young children under three years of age are enriched in δ15N due to breastfeeding indicating that weaning likely occurred around the age of three years. The fauna exhibit mean δ13C values of −20.9 ± 0.8‰ and mean δ15N values of 7.0 ± 0.9‰ respectively. Variation in the δ13C and δ15N in the domestic animals is probably caused by different livestock managements.
A broad compilation of modern carbon isotope compositions in all C3 plant types shows a monotonic increase in δ(13)C with decreasing mean annual precipitation (MAP) that differs from previous models. Corrections for temperature, altitude, or latitude are smaller than previously estimated. As corrected for altitude, latitude, and the δ(13)C of atmospheric CO(2), these data permit refined interpretation of MAP, paleodiet, and paleoecology of ecosystems dominated by C3 plants, either prior to 7-8 million years ago (Ma), or more recently at mid- to high latitudes. Twenty-nine published paleontological studies suggest preservational or scientific bias toward dry ecosystems, although wet ecosystems are also represented. Unambiguous isotopic evidence for C4 plants is lacking prior to 7-8 Ma, and hominid ecosystems at 4.4 Ma show no isotopic evidence for dense forests. Consideration of global plant biomass indicates that average δ(13)C of C3 plants is commonly overestimated by approximately 2‰.
Carbon ((13)C/(12)C) and nitrogen ((15)N/(14)N) stable isotope ratios were longitudinally measured in fingernail and hair samples from mother-infant pairs where infants were exclusively breastfed (n = 5), breast- and formula-fed (n = 2), or exclusively formula-fed (n = 1) from birth. All exclusively breastfed infants had a dual enrichment in carbon ( approximately 1 per thousand) and nitrogen ( approximately 2-3 per thousand) when compared to maternal values. In contrast, breast- and formula-fed subjects had reduced enrichments compared to exclusively breastfed subjects, and the exclusively formula-fed infant showed no increase in delta(13)C or delta(15)N values. This finding of a carbon trophic level effect in breastfeeding infants suggests that (13)C-enrichments of approximately 1 per thousand in archaeological populations are not necessarily the result of the consumption of C(4)-based weaning foods such as maize or millet. During the weaning process, the delta(13)C results for breastfed infants declined to maternal levels more rapidly than the delta(15)N results. This suggests that delta(13)C values have the potential to track the introduction of solid foods into the diet, whereas delta(15)N values monitor the length of time of breast milk consumption. These findings can be used to refine the isotopic analysis of breastfeeding and weaning patterns in past and modern populations.
In stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS), the stable isotopic composition of samples is measured relative to the isotopic composition of a working gas. This measured isotopic composition must be converted and reported on the respective international stable isotope reference scale for the accurate interlaboratory comparison of results. This data conversion procedure, commonly called normalization, is the first set of calculations done by the users. In this paper, we present a discussion and mathematical formulation of several existing routinely used normalization procedures. These conversion procedures include: single-point anchoring (versus working gas and certified reference standard), modified single-point normalization, linear shift between the measured and the true isotopic composition of two certified reference standards, two-point and multi-point linear normalization methods. Mathematically, the modified single-point, two-point, and multi-point normalization methods are essentially the same. By utilizing laboratory analytical data, the accuracy of the various normalization methods (given by the difference between the true and the normalized isotopic composition) has been compared. Our computations suggest that single-point anchoring produces normalization errors that exceed the maximum total uncertainties (e.g. 0.1 per thousand for delta(13)C) often reported in the literature, and, therefore, that it must not be used for routinely anchoring stable isotope measurement results to the appropriate international scales. However, any normalization method using two or more certified reference standards produces a smaller normalization error provided that the isotopic composition of the standards brackets the isotopic composition of unknown samples.
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