1
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van den Hurk Y, Sikström F, Amkreutz L, Bleasdale M, Borvon A, Ephrem B, Fernández-Rodríguez C, Gibbs HMB, Jonsson L, Lehouck A, Cedeira JM, Meng S, Monge R, Moreno M, Nabais M, Nores C, Pis-Millán JA, Riddler I, Schmölcke U, Segschneider M, Speller C, Vretemark M, Wickler S, Collins M, Nadeau MJ, Barrett JH. The prelude to industrial whaling: identifying the targets of ancient European whaling using zooarchaeology and collagen mass-peptide fingerprinting. R Soc Open Sci 2023; 10:230741. [PMID: 37711146 PMCID: PMC10498027 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.230741] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2023] [Accepted: 08/21/2023] [Indexed: 09/16/2023]
Abstract
Taxonomic identification of whale bones found during archaeological excavations is problematic due to their typically fragmented state. This difficulty limits understanding of both the past spatio-temporal distributions of whale populations and of possible early whaling activities. To overcome this challenge, we performed zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry on an unprecedented 719 archaeological and palaeontological specimens of probable whale bone from Atlantic European contexts, predominantly dating from ca 3500 BCE to the eighteenth century CE. The results show high numbers of Balaenidae (many probably North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis)) and grey whale (Eschrichtius robustus) specimens, two taxa no longer present in the eastern North Atlantic. This discovery matches expectations regarding the past utilization of North Atlantic right whales, but was unanticipated for grey whales, which have hitherto rarely been identified in the European zooarchaeological record. Many of these specimens derive from contexts associated with mediaeval cultures frequently linked to whaling: the Basques, northern Spaniards, Normans, Flemish, Frisians, Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians. This association raises the likelihood that early whaling impacted these taxa, contributing to their extirpation and extinction. Much lower numbers of other large cetacean taxa were identified, suggesting that what are now the most depleted whales were once those most frequently used.
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Affiliation(s)
- Youri van den Hurk
- Department of Archaeology and Cultural History, University Museum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Groningen Institute of Archaeology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Fanny Sikström
- Department of Archaeology and Cultural History, University Museum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Luc Amkreutz
- National Museum of Antiquities, Papengracht 30, 2301EC Leiden, The Netherlands
- Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 2, 2333 Leiden, The Netherlands
| | | | - Aurélia Borvon
- CNRS, UMR 7041 ArScAn Equipe Archéologies Environnementales, Nanterre, France
- Laboratoire d'Anatomie Comparée, ONIRIS (École Nationale Vétérinaire, Agroalimentaire et de l'Alimentation, Nantes-Atlantique), Nantes, France
| | - Brice Ephrem
- CNRS, UMR 6566 CReAAH Laboratoire Archéosciences, University of Rennes, Campus de Beaulieu, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France
| | | | | | - Leif Jonsson
- Osteology, Aschebergsgatan 32, Gothenburg, SE 41133, Sweden
| | - Alexander Lehouck
- Abbey Museum of the Dunes, Koninklijke Prinslaan 6–8, 8670 Koksijde, Belgium
| | - Jose Martínez Cedeira
- Coordinadora para o Estudio dos Mamíferos Mariños, Rúa do Ceán, No 2, 36350 Nigrán, Pontevedra, Spain
| | - Stefan Meng
- Institute of Geography and Geology, University of Greifswald, Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn Strasse 17A, 17487 Greifswald, Germany
| | - Rui Monge
- UNIARQ – Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, 1600-214, Portugal
| | - Marta Moreno
- Instituto de Historia - CSIC, Albasanz 26-28, Madrid, 28037, Spain
| | - Mariana Nabais
- Institute of Geography and Geology, University of Greifswald, Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn Strasse 17A, 17487 Greifswald, Germany
- IPHES-CERCA - Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Zona Educacional 4, Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain
- Departament d'Història i Història de l'Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Avinguda de Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain
| | - Carlos Nores
- INDUROT – Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Ordenación del Territorio, Universidad de Oviedo, Mieres, 33600, Spain
| | - José Antonio Pis-Millán
- Centro de Experimentación Pesquera, Dirección General de Pesca Marítima, Gobierno del Principado de Asturias, 33212 Gijón, Spain
| | - Ian Riddler
- Independent Researcher, Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig, Germany
| | - Ulrich Schmölcke
- Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology (ZBSA), Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig, Germany
| | - Martin Segschneider
- Lower Saxony Institute for Historical Coastal Research, Viktoriastrasse 26/28, 26382 Wilhelmshaven, Germany
| | - Camilla Speller
- Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, 6303 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver V6T 1Z1, Canada
| | | | | | - Matthew Collins
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- The Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Kobenhavns, Denmark
| | - Marie-Josée Nadeau
- National Laboratory for Age Determination, NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Erling Skakkes Gate 47b, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
| | - James H. Barrett
- Department of Archaeology and Cultural History, University Museum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
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2
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Tang L, Wilkin S, Richter KK, Bleasdale M, Fernandes R, He Y, Li S, Petraglia M, Scott A, Teoh FK, Tong Y, Tsering T, Tsho Y, Xi L, Yang F, Yuan H, Chen Z, Roberts P, He W, Spengler R, Lu H, Wangdue S, Boivin N. Paleoproteomic evidence reveals dairying supported prehistoric occupation of the highland Tibetan Plateau. Sci Adv 2023; 9:eadf0345. [PMID: 37043579 PMCID: PMC10096579 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adf0345] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2022] [Accepted: 03/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
The extreme environments of the Tibetan Plateau offer considerable challenges to human survival, demanding novel adaptations. While the role of biological and agricultural adaptations in enabling early human colonization of the plateau has been widely discussed, the contribution of pastoralism is less well understood, especially the dairy pastoralism that has historically been central to Tibetan diets. Here, we analyze ancient proteins from the dental calculus (n = 40) of all human individuals with sufficient calculus preservation from the interior plateau. Our paleoproteomic results demonstrate that dairy pastoralism began on the highland plateau by ~3500 years ago. Patterns of milk protein recovery point to the importance of dairy for individuals who lived in agriculturally poor regions above 3700 m above sea level. Our study suggests that dairy was a critical cultural adaptation that supported expansion of early pastoralists into the region's vast, non-arable highlands, opening the Tibetan Plateau up to widespread, permanent human occupation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Tang
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Center for Archaeological Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Institute for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany
| | - Shevan Wilkin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
- Institute for Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Kristine Korzow Richter
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
| | - Madeleine Bleasdale
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Ricardo Fernandes
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
- Climate Change and History Research Initiative, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Yuanhong He
- Center for Archaeological Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- School of Archaeology and Museology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Shuai Li
- Center for Archaeological Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- School of Archaeology and Museology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Center for Tibetan Studies, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Michael Petraglia
- Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
- School of Social Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Ashley Scott
- Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Fallen K.Y. Teoh
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Yan Tong
- Tibetan Cultural Relics Conservation Institute, Lhasa, China
| | - Tinlei Tsering
- Tibetan Cultural Relics Conservation Institute, Lhasa, China
| | - Yang Tsho
- Tibetan Cultural Relics Conservation Institute, Lhasa, China
| | - Lin Xi
- Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology, Xian, China
| | - Feng Yang
- Center for Archaeological Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- School of Archaeology and Museology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Center for Tibetan Studies, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Haibing Yuan
- Center for Archaeological Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- School of Archaeology and Museology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Zujun Chen
- Tibetan Cultural Relics Conservation Institute, Lhasa, China
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- isoTROPIC Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
| | - Wei He
- Tibetan Cultural Relics Conservation Institute, Lhasa, China
| | - Robert Spengler
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- Domestication and Anthropogenic Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
| | - Hongliang Lu
- Center for Archaeological Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- School of Archaeology and Museology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Center for Tibetan Studies, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Shargan Wangdue
- Tibetan Cultural Relics Conservation Institute, Lhasa, China
| | - Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
- Griffith Sciences, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
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3
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Le Moyne C, Roberts P, Hua Q, Bleasdale M, Desideri J, Boivin N, Crowther A. Ecological flexibility and adaptation to past climate change in the Middle Nile Valley: A multiproxy investigation of dietary shifts between the Neolithic and Kerma periods at Kadruka 1 and Kadruka 21. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0280347. [PMID: 36730175 PMCID: PMC9894462 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2022] [Accepted: 12/27/2022] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Human responses to climate change have long been at the heart of discussions of past economic, social, and political change in the Nile Valley of northeastern Africa. Following the arrival of Neolithic groups in the 6th millennium BCE, the Northern Dongola Reach of Upper Nubia witnessed a cultural florescence manifested through elaborate funerary traditions. However, despite the wealth of archaeological data available from funerary contexts, including evidence for domesticated animals and plants as grave goods, the paucity of stratified habitation contexts hinders interpretation of local subsistence trajectories. While it is recognised archaeologically that, against the backdrop of increasing environmental deterioration, the importance of agriculture based on Southwest Asian winter cereals increased throughout the Kerma period (2500-1450 BCE), the contribution of domesticated cereals to earlier Neolithic herding economies remains unclear. This paper presents direct dietary data from a total of 55 Middle Neolithic and Kerma period individuals from Kadruka 21 and Kadruka 1. Microbotanical data obtained from human dental calculus and grave sediments are integrated with human and faunal stable isotopes to explore changes in dietary breadth over time. The combined results demonstrate the consumption of wild plant species, including C4 wetland adapted grasses, by Middle Neolithic individuals at Kadruka 1. Despite existing evidence for domesticated barley in associated graves, the results obtained in this study provide no clear evidence for the routine consumption of domesticated cereals by Middle Neolithic individuals. Rather, direct microparticle evidence for the consumption of Triticeae cereals is only associated with a single Kerma period individual and corresponds with an isotopic shift indicating a greater contribution of C3-derived resources to diet. These results provide evidence for Neolithic dietary flexibility in Upper Nubia through the persistence of foraging activities and support existing evidence linking increased agricultural reliance to the development of the Kerma culture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles Le Moyne
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, QLD, Australia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Patrick Roberts
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, QLD, Australia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- isoTROPIC Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
| | - Quan Hua
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, QLD, Australia
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Kirrawee DC, NSW, Australia
| | - Madeleine Bleasdale
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
- Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, United Kingdom
| | - Jocelyne Desideri
- Laboratory of African Archaeology and Anthropology, Section of Biology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Nicole Boivin
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, QLD, Australia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
| | - Alison Crowther
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, QLD, Australia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany
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4
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Wang K, Bleasdale M, Le Moyne C, Freund C, Krause J, Boivin N, Schiffels S. 4000-year-old hair from the Middle Nile highlights unusual ancient DNA degradation pattern and a potential source of early eastern Africa pastoralists. Sci Rep 2022; 12:20939. [PMID: 36463384 PMCID: PMC9719486 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-25384-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2022] [Accepted: 11/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/07/2022] Open
Abstract
Petrous bones and teeth are the skeletal elements most often targeted by researchers for ancient DNA (aDNA) extraction, and the sources of the majority of previously published ancient African genomes. However, the high temperature environments that characterise much of Africa often lead to poor preservation of skeletal remains. Here, we successfully reconstruct and analyse genome-wide data from the naturally mummified hair of a 4000-year-old individual from Sudan in northeastern Africa, after failed attempts at DNA extraction from teeth, petrous, and cranium of this and other individuals from the Kadruka cemeteries. We find that hair DNA extracted with an established single-stranded library protocol is unusually enriched in ultra-short DNA molecules and exhibits substantial interior molecular damage. The aDNA was nonetheless amenable to genetic analyses, which revealed that the genome is genetically indistinguishable from that of early Neolithic eastern African pastoralists located 2500 kms away. Our findings are consistent with established models for the southward dispersal of Middle Nile Valley pastoral populations to the Rift Valley of eastern Africa, and provide a possible genetic source population for this dispersal. Our study highlights the value of mummified hair as an alternate source of aDNA from regions with poor bone preservation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ke Wang
- grid.419518.00000 0001 2159 1813Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany ,grid.8547.e0000 0001 0125 2443School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Madeleine Bleasdale
- grid.5685.e0000 0004 1936 9668Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK ,grid.469873.70000 0004 4914 1197Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Charles Le Moyne
- grid.469873.70000 0004 4914 1197Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany ,grid.1003.20000 0000 9320 7537School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Cacilia Freund
- grid.419518.00000 0001 2159 1813Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Johannes Krause
- grid.419518.00000 0001 2159 1813Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Nicole Boivin
- grid.469873.70000 0004 4914 1197Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany ,grid.1003.20000 0000 9320 7537School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Stephan Schiffels
- grid.419518.00000 0001 2159 1813Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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5
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Bleasdale M, Richter KK, Janzen A, Brown S, Scott A, Zech J, Wilkin S, Wang K, Schiffels S, Desideri J, Besse M, Reinold J, Saad M, Babiker H, Power RC, Ndiema E, Ogola C, Manthi FK, Zahir M, Petraglia M, Trachsel C, Nanni P, Grossmann J, Hendy J, Crowther A, Roberts P, Goldstein ST, Boivin N. Ancient proteins provide evidence of dairy consumption in eastern Africa. Nat Commun 2021; 12:632. [PMID: 33504791 PMCID: PMC7841170 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20682-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2020] [Accepted: 12/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Consuming the milk of other species is a unique adaptation of Homo sapiens, with implications for health, birth spacing and evolution. Key questions nonetheless remain regarding the origins of dairying and its relationship to the genetically-determined ability to drink milk into adulthood through lactase persistence (LP). As a major centre of LP diversity, Africa is of significant interest to the evolution of dairying. Here we report proteomic evidence for milk consumption in ancient Africa. Using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) we identify dairy proteins in human dental calculus from northeastern Africa, directly demonstrating milk consumption at least six millennia ago. Our findings indicate that pastoralist groups were drinking milk as soon as herding spread into eastern Africa, at a time when the genetic adaptation for milk digestion was absent or rare. Our study links LP status in specific ancient individuals with direct evidence for their consumption of dairy products.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madeleine Bleasdale
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
- Department of Archaeology, University of York, King's Manor, Exhibition Square, York, YO1 7EP, UK.
| | - Kristine K Richter
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Anneke Janzen
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
| | - Samantha Brown
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Ashley Scott
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Jana Zech
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Shevan Wilkin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Ke Wang
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Stephan Schiffels
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Jocelyne Desideri
- Laboratory of Prehistoric Archaeology and Anthropology, Department F.-A. Forel for Environmental and Aquatic Sciences, Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Marie Besse
- Laboratory of Prehistoric Archaeology and Anthropology, Department F.-A. Forel for Environmental and Aquatic Sciences, Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Jacques Reinold
- Section française de la Direction des antiquités du Soudan, Khartoum, Sudan
| | - Mohamed Saad
- National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums of Sudan, M.Bolheim Bioarchaeology Laboratory, Khartoum, Sudan
| | - Hiba Babiker
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Robert C Power
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Institute for Pre-and Protohistoric Archaeology and Archaeology of the Roman Provinces, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Emmanuel Ndiema
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Earth Sciences, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Christine Ogola
- Department of Earth Sciences, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Fredrick K Manthi
- Department of Earth Sciences, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Muhammad Zahir
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Archaeology, Hazara University, Mansehra, Pakistan
| | - Michael Petraglia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DA, USA
| | - Christian Trachsel
- Functional Genomics Center, University of Zurich/ETH, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Paolo Nanni
- Functional Genomics Center, University of Zurich/ETH, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Jonas Grossmann
- Functional Genomics Center, University of Zurich/ETH, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Jessica Hendy
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- BioArCh, Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Alison Crowther
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Steven T Goldstein
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DA, USA.
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
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6
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Bleasdale M, Wotzka HP, Eichhorn B, Mercader J, Styring A, Zech J, Soto M, Inwood J, Clarke S, Marzo S, Fiedler B, Linseele V, Boivin N, Roberts P. Isotopic and microbotanical insights into Iron Age agricultural reliance in the Central African rainforest. Commun Biol 2020; 3:619. [PMID: 33110164 PMCID: PMC7591565 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-020-01324-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2020] [Accepted: 09/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The emergence of agriculture in Central Africa has previously been associated with the migration of Bantu-speaking populations during an anthropogenic or climate-driven ‘opening’ of the rainforest. However, such models are based on assumptions of environmental requirements of key crops (e.g. Pennisetum glaucum) and direct insights into human dietary reliance remain absent. Here, we utilise stable isotope analysis (δ13C, δ15N, δ18O) of human and animal remains and charred food remains, as well as plant microparticles from dental calculus, to assess the importance of incoming crops in the Congo Basin. Our data, spanning the early Iron Age to recent history, reveals variation in the adoption of cereals, with a persistent focus on forest and freshwater resources in some areas. These data provide new dietary evidence and document the longevity of mosaic subsistence strategies in the region. Bleasdale et al. examine the introduction of agricultural crops in the Congo Basin with stable isotope analysis of human and animal remains, charred food remains, and plant microparticles from dental calculus. Their findings reveal variation in the adoption of cereals from the early Iron Age, and provide long-term insights into changing human reliance on different resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madeleine Bleasdale
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Straße 10, 07745, Jena, Germany. .,Department of Archaeology, University of York, King's Manor, Exhibition Square, York, YO1 7EP, UK.
| | - Hans-Peter Wotzka
- Institute of Prehistory, University of Cologne, Weyertal 125, 50931, Cologne, Germany
| | - Barbara Eichhorn
- Institute of Archaeological Sciences, Goethe University, Norbert-Wollheim-Platz 1, D-60629, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Julio Mercader
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Straße 10, 07745, Jena, Germany.,Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive, N.W. Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - Amy Styring
- Institute of Archaeological Sciences, Goethe University, Norbert-Wollheim-Platz 1, D-60629, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.,School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 1 South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3TG, UK
| | - Jana Zech
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Straße 10, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - María Soto
- Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive, N.W. Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - Jamie Inwood
- Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive, N.W. Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - Siobhán Clarke
- Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive, N.W. Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - Sara Marzo
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Straße 10, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Bianca Fiedler
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Straße 10, 07745, Jena, Germany
| | - Veerle Linseele
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Center for Archaeological Sciences, University of Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, 3001, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Straße 10, 07745, Jena, Germany.,Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive, N.W. Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada.,Department of Archaeology, University of Queensland, St Lucia QLD, 4072, Brisbane, Australia.,Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 10th Street & Constitution Avenue, Washington, DC, 20560, USA
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Straße 10, 07745, Jena, Germany. .,Department of Archaeology, University of Queensland, St Lucia QLD, 4072, Brisbane, Australia.
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7
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Wang K, Goldstein S, Bleasdale M, Clist B, Bostoen K, Bakwa-Lufu P, Buck LT, Crowther A, Dème A, McIntosh RJ, Mercader J, Ogola C, Power RC, Sawchuk E, Robertshaw P, Wilmsen EN, Petraglia M, Ndiema E, Manthi FK, Krause J, Roberts P, Boivin N, Schiffels S. Ancient genomes reveal complex patterns of population movement, interaction, and replacement in sub-Saharan Africa. Sci Adv 2020; 6:eaaz0183. [PMID: 32582847 PMCID: PMC7292641 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaz0183] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2019] [Accepted: 04/15/2020] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Africa hosts the greatest human genetic diversity globally, but legacies of ancient population interactions and dispersals across the continent remain understudied. Here, we report genome-wide data from 20 ancient sub-Saharan African individuals, including the first reported ancient DNA from the DRC, Uganda, and Botswana. These data demonstrate the contraction of diverse, once contiguous hunter-gatherer populations, and suggest the resistance to interaction with incoming pastoralists of delayed-return foragers in aquatic environments. We refine models for the spread of food producers into eastern and southern Africa, demonstrating more complex trajectories of admixture than previously suggested. In Botswana, we show that Bantu ancestry post-dates admixture between pastoralists and foragers, suggesting an earlier spread of pastoralism than farming to southern Africa. Our findings demonstrate how processes of migration and admixture have markedly reshaped the genetic map of sub-Saharan Africa in the past few millennia and highlight the utility of combined archaeological and archaeogenetic approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ke Wang
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Steven Goldstein
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Madeleine Bleasdale
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Bernard Clist
- UGent Centre for Bantu Studies, Department of Languages and Cultures, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- Institut des Mondes Africains, Paris, France
| | - Koen Bostoen
- UGent Centre for Bantu Studies, Department of Languages and Cultures, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Paul Bakwa-Lufu
- Institut des Musées Nationaux du Congo, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
| | - Laura T. Buck
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Alison Crowther
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Alioune Dème
- Department of History, Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar, Senegal
| | | | - Julio Mercader
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Christine Ogola
- Department of Earth Sciences, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Robert C. Power
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Institute for Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology and Archaeology of the Roman Provinces, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Elizabeth Sawchuk
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
| | - Peter Robertshaw
- Department of Anthropology, California State University, San Bernardino, San Bernardino, CA, USA
| | - Edwin N. Wilmsen
- University of Texas-Austin, Austin, TX, USA
- Witwatersrand University, Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa
| | - Michael Petraglia
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
- Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Emmanuel Ndiema
- Department of Earth Sciences, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
| | | | - Johannes Krause
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
- Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Stephan Schiffels
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
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8
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Wilkin S, Ventresca Miller A, Miller BK, Spengler RN, Taylor WTT, Fernandes R, Hagan RW, Bleasdale M, Zech J, Ulziibayar S, Myagmar E, Boivin N, Roberts P. Economic Diversification Supported the Growth of Mongolia's Nomadic Empires. Sci Rep 2020; 10:3916. [PMID: 32127564 PMCID: PMC7054399 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-60194-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2019] [Accepted: 02/06/2020] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Populations in Mongolia from the late second millennium B.C.E. through the Mongol Empire are traditionally assumed, by archaeologists and historians, to have maintained a highly specialized horse-facilitated form of mobile pastoralism. Until recently, a dearth of direct evidence for prehistoric human diet and subsistence economies in Mongolia has rendered systematic testing of this view impossible. Here, we present stable carbon and nitrogen isotope measurements of human bone collagen, and stable carbon isotope analysis of human enamel bioapatite, from 137 well-dated ancient Mongolian individuals spanning the period c. 4400 B.C.E. to 1300 C.E. Our results demonstrate an increase in consumption of C4 plants beginning at c. 800 B.C.E., almost certainly indicative of millet consumption, an interpretation supported by archaeological evidence. The escalating scale of millet consumption on the eastern Eurasian steppe over time, and an expansion of isotopic niche widths, indicate that historic Mongolian empires were supported by a diversification of economic strategies rather than uniform, specialized pastoralism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shevan Wilkin
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Department of Archaeology, Jena, Germany.
| | - Alicia Ventresca Miller
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Department of Archaeology, Jena, Germany
- University of Michigan, Department of Anthropology, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Bryan K Miller
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Department of Archaeology, Jena, Germany
| | - Robert N Spengler
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Department of Archaeology, Jena, Germany
| | - William T T Taylor
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Department of Archaeology, Jena, Germany
- University of Colorado, Department of Anthropology, Museum of Natural History, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Ricardo Fernandes
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Department of Archaeology, Jena, Germany
- School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Richard W Hagan
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Department of Archaeogenetics, Jena, Germany
| | - Madeleine Bleasdale
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Department of Archaeology, Jena, Germany
| | - Jana Zech
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Department of Archaeology, Jena, Germany
| | - S Ulziibayar
- Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Jukoviin orgon chuloo 77, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
| | | | - Nicole Boivin
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Department of Archaeology, Jena, Germany
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA
| | - Patrick Roberts
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Department of Archaeology, Jena, Germany.
- School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
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9
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Wilkin S, Ventresca Miller A, Taylor WTT, Miller BK, Hagan RW, Bleasdale M, Scott A, Gankhuyg S, Ramsøe A, Uliziibayar S, Trachsel C, Nanni P, Grossmann J, Orlando L, Horton M, Stockhammer PW, Myagmar E, Boivin N, Warinner C, Hendy J. Dairy pastoralism sustained eastern Eurasian steppe populations for 5,000 years. Nat Ecol Evol 2020; 4:346-355. [PMID: 32127685 PMCID: PMC7212056 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-020-1120-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2019] [Accepted: 01/17/2020] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
Dairy pastoralism is integral to contemporary and past lifeways on the eastern Eurasian steppe, facilitating survival in agriculturally challenging environments. While previous research has indicated that ruminant dairy pastoralism was practiced in the region by circa 1300 BC, the origin, extent and diversity of this custom remain poorly understood. Here, we analyse ancient proteins from human dental calculus recovered from geographically diverse locations across Mongolia and spanning 5,000 years. We present the earliest evidence for dairy consumption on the eastern Eurasian steppe by circa 3000 BC and the later emergence of horse milking at circa 1200 BC, concurrent with the first evidence for horse riding. We argue that ruminant dairying contributed to the demographic success of Bronze Age Mongolian populations and that the origins of traditional horse dairy products in eastern Eurasia are closely tied to the regional emergence of mounted herding societies during the late second millennium BC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shevan Wilkin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
| | - Alicia Ventresca Miller
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - William T T Taylor
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Department of Anthropology, Museum of Natural History, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Bryan K Miller
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Faculty of History, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Richard W Hagan
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Madeleine Bleasdale
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Ashley Scott
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Sumiya Gankhuyg
- Anthropology and Archaeology Department, National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
| | - Abigail Ramsøe
- BioArCh, Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK.,Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, UK
| | - S Uliziibayar
- Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
| | - Christian Trachsel
- Functional Genomics Centre, University of Zürich/ETH, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Paolo Nanni
- Functional Genomics Centre, University of Zürich/ETH, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Jonas Grossmann
- Functional Genomics Centre, University of Zürich/ETH, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Ludovic Orlando
- Laboratoire d'Anthropobiologie Moléculaire et d'Imagerie de Synthèse, CNRS UMR 5288, Université de Toulouse, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.,Globe Institute, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Mark Horton
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, UK
| | - Philipp W Stockhammer
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Institut für Vor- und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie und Provinzialrömische Archäologie, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany
| | - Erdene Myagmar
- Anthropology and Archaeology Department, National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
| | - Nicole Boivin
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.,Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.,Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Christina Warinner
- Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Institute for Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Jessica Hendy
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,BioArCh, Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK
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10
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Bleasdale M, Ponce P, Radini A, Wilson AS, Doherty S, Daley P, Brown C, Spindler L, Sibun L, Speller C, Alexander MM. Multidisciplinary investigations of the diets of two post-medieval populations from London using stable isotopes and microdebris analysis. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 2019; 11:6161-6181. [PMID: 31814854 PMCID: PMC6874522 DOI: 10.1007/s12520-019-00910-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2019] [Accepted: 08/02/2019] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
This paper presents the first multi-tissue study of diet in post-medieval London using both the stable light isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen and analysis of microdebris in dental calculus. Dietary intake was explored over short and long timescales. Bulk bone collagen was analysed from humans from the Queen's Chapel of the Savoy (QCS) (n = 66) and the St Barnabas/St Mary Abbots (SB) (n = 25). Incremental dentine analysis was performed on the second molar of individual QCS1123 to explore childhood dietary intake. Bulk hair samples (n = 4) were sampled from adults from QCS, and dental calculus was analysed from four other individuals using microscopy. In addition, bone collagen from a total of 46 animals from QCS (n = 11) and the additional site of Prescot Street (n = 35) was analysed, providing the first animal dietary baseline for post-medieval London. Overall, isotopic results suggest a largely C3-based terrestrial diet for both populations, with the exception of QCS1123 who exhibited values consistent with the consumption of C4 food sources throughout childhood and adulthood. The differences exhibited in δ15Ncoll across both populations likely reflect variations in diet due to social class and occupation, with individuals from SB likely representing wealthier individuals consuming larger quantities of animal and marine fish protein. Microdebris analysis results were limited but indicate the consumption of domestic cereals. This paper demonstrates the utility of a multidisciplinary approach to investigate diet across long and short timescales to further our understanding of variations in social status and mobility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madeleine Bleasdale
- Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- BioArch, Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Paola Ponce
- PalaeoHub, Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Anita Radini
- BioArch, Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Andrew S. Wilson
- School of Archaeological & Forensic Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK
| | - Sean Doherty
- BioArch, Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK
- Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | - Patrick Daley
- School of Archaeological & Forensic Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK
| | - Chloe Brown
- BioArch, Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Luke Spindler
- BioArch, Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK
- Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Lucy Sibun
- Archaeology South-East, Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Camilla Speller
- BioArch, Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK
- Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
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