Hostname: page-component-5cf477f64f-r2nwp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-03T18:17:58.578Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Compound-specific stable carbon isotopic detection of pig product processing in British Late Neolithic pottery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Anna J. Mukherjee ,
Robert Berstan ,
Mark S. Copley ,
Alex M. Gibson  and
Richard P. Evershed
Anna J. Mukherjee
Affiliation:
Organic Geochemistry Unit, Bristol Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
Robert Berstan
Affiliation:
Organic Geochemistry Unit, Bristol Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
Mark S. Copley
Affiliation:
Organic Geochemistry Unit, Bristol Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
Alex M. Gibson
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD7 1DP, UK
Richard P. Evershed*
Affiliation:
Organic Geochemistry Unit, Bristol Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

By extracting lipids from potsherds and determining the δ13C of the most abundant fatty acids, degraded fats from ruminant animals, such as cattle, and non-ruminant animals, such as pigs, can be distinguished. The authors use this phenomenon to investigate Late Neolithic pig exploitation and find that the pig ‘signature’ was more frequently found among residues from Grooved Ware than other prehistoric pottery types.

Keywords

NeolithicBritainarchaeological chemistryfatty acidsGrooved WarepigsresiduesruminantsTAGs
Type
Method
Information
Antiquity , Volume 81 , Issue 313 , 1 September 2007 , pp. 743 - 754
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Albarella, U. & Serjeantson, D.. 2002. A passion for pork: meat consumption at the late Neolithic site of Durrington Walls, in Miracle, P. & Milner, N. (ed.) Consuming passions and patterns of consumption: 33–49. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.Google Scholar
Ashmore, P. 1998. Radiocarbon dates for settlements, tombs and ceremonial sites with Grooved Ware in Scotland, in Gibson, A. & Simpson, D. (ed.) Ritual and religion: 139–47. Stroud: Sutton.Google Scholar
Beck, C. W., Smart, C. J. & Ossenkop, D. J.. 1989. Residues and linings in ancient Mediterranean transport amphoras, in Allen, R. O. (ed.) Archaeological Chemistry IV (Advances in Chemistry Series 220): 369–80. Washington D.C.: ACS.Google Scholar
Charters, S., Evershed, R. P., Goad, L. J., Heron, C. & Blinkhorn, P. W.. 1993. Identification of an adhesive used to repair a Roman jar. Archaeometry 35: 91–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charters, S., Evershed, R. P., Blinkhorn, P. W. & Denham, V.. 1995. Evidence for the mixing of fats and waxes in archaeological ceramics. Archaeometry 37: 113–27.Google Scholar
Charters, S., Evershed, R. P., Quye, A., Blinkhorn, P. W. & Reeves, V.. 1997. Simulation experiments for determining the use of ancient pottery vessels: The behaviour of epicuticular leaf wax during boiling of a leafy vegetable. Journal of Archaeological Science 24: 1–7.Google Scholar
Christie, W. W. 1981. Progress in lipid research supplement No. 1. Lipid metabolism in ruminant animals. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Clutton-Brock, J. Unpublished. The mammalian remains from the 1972-3 and 1977 excavations at Skara Brae, Orkney. London: Natural History Museum.Google Scholar
Copley, M. S., Rose, P. J., Clapham, A., Edwards, D. N., Horton, M. C. & Evershed, R. P.. 2001a. Detection of palm fruit lipids in archaeological pottery from Qasr Ibrim, Egyptian Nubia. Proceedings of the Royal Society London B 268: 593–97.Google Scholar
Copley, M. S. 2001b. Processing palm fruits in the Nile Valley - biomolecular evidence from Qasr Ibrim. Antiquity 75: 538–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Copley, M. S., Berstan, R., Dudd, S. N., Docherty, G., Mukherjee, A. J., Straker, V., Payne, S. & Evershed, R. P.. 2003. Direct chemical evidence for widespread dairying in prehistoric Britain. Proceedings of the National Academy of the United States of America 100: 1524–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Copley, M. S., Berstan, R., Dudd, S. N., Straker, V., Payne, S. & Evershed, R. P.. 2005a. Dairying in antiquity I. Evidence from absorbed lipid residues dating to the British Iron Age. Journal of Archaeological Science 132: 485–503.Google Scholar
Copley, M. S., Berstan, R., Straker, V., Payne, S. & Evershed, R. P.. 2005b. Dairying in antiquity II. Evidence from absorbed lipid residues dating to the British Bronze Age. Journal of Archaeological Science 132: 505–21.Google Scholar
Copley, M. S., Berstan, R., Mukherjee, A. J., Dudd, S. N., Straker, V., Payne, S. & Evershed, R. P.. 2005c. Dairying in antiquity III. Evidence from absorbed lipid residues dating to the British Neolithic. Journal of Archaeological Science 132: 523–46.Google Scholar
Copley, M. S., Berstan, R., Dudd, S. N., Aillaud, S., Mukherjee, A. J., Straker, V., Payne, S. & Evershed, R. P.. 2005d. Processing of milk products in pottery vessels through British prehistory. Antiquity 79: 895–908.Google Scholar
Copley, M. S., Bland, H. A., Rose, P., Horton, M. & Evershed, R. P.. 2005e. Gas chromatographic, mass spectrometric and stable carbon isotopic investigations of organic residues of plant oils and animal fats employed as illuminants in archaeological lamps from Egypt. Analyst 130: 860–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Craig, O. E., Chapman, J., Heron, C., Willis, L. H., Bartosiewicz, L., Tayor, G., Whittle, A. & Collins, M.. 2005a. Did the first farmers of central and eastern Europe produce dairy foods? Antiquity 79: 882–94.Google Scholar
Craig, O. E., Taylor, G., Mulville, J., Collins, M. & Parker Pearson, M.. 2005b. The identification of prehistoric dairying activities in the Western Isles of Scotland: an integrated biomolecular approach. Journal of Archaeological Science 32: 91–103.Google Scholar
Darvill, T. 1998. Prehistoric Britain. London & New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Donahue, R. E. 1999. Microwear analysis of the flint artefacts from Upper Ninepence, in Gibson, A. (ed.) The Walton Basin Project: Excavation and survey in a prehistoric landscape 1993-7: 100–12. York: Council for British Archaeology.Google Scholar
Dudd, S. N. 1999. Molecular and isotopic characterisation of animal fats in archaeological pottery. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Bristol.Google Scholar
Dudd, S. N. & Evershed, R. P.. 1998. Direct demonstration of milk as an element of archaeological economies. Science 282: 1478–81.Google Scholar
Dudd, S. N., Evershed, R. P. & Gibson, A. M.. 1999. Evidence for varying patterns of exploitation of animal products in different prehistoric pottery traditions based on lipids preserved in surface and absorbed residues. Journal of Archaeological Science 26: 1473–82.Google Scholar
Edwards, A. & Horne, M.. 1997. Animal bone, in Whittle, A. (ed.) Sacred mound, holy rings. Silbury Hill and the West Kennet palisade enclosures: a later Neolithic complex in north Wiltshire: 117–29. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Enser, M. 1991. Animal carcass fats and fish oils, in Rossell, J. B. & Pritchard, J.L.R. (ed.) Analysis of oilseeds, fats and fatty foods: 329–94. London & New York: Elsevier Applied Science.Google Scholar
Epstein, J. & Bichard, M.. 1984. Pig, in Mason, I. L. (ed.) Evolution of domesticated animals: 145–62. New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Evershed, R. P. 2000. Biomolecular analysis by organic mass spectrometry, in Ciliberto, E. & Spoto, G. (ed.) Modern Analytical Methods in Art and Archaeology: 177–239. USA: Wiley Interscience.Google Scholar
Evershed, R. P., Heron, C. & Goad, L. J.. 1990. Analysis of organic residues of archaeological origin by high-temperature gas chromatography and gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Analyst 115: 1339–42.Google Scholar
Evershed, R. P. 1991. Epicuticular wax components preserved in potsherds as chemical indicators of leafy vegetables in ancient diets. Antiquity 65: 540–44.Google Scholar
Evershed, R. P., Heron, C., Charters, S. & Goad, L. J.. 1992. The survival of food residues: new methods of analysis, interpretation and application. Proceedings of the British Academy 77: 187–208.Google Scholar
Evershed, R. P., Arnot, K. I., Collister, J., Eglington, G. & Charters, S.. 1994. Application of isotope ratio monitoring gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to the analysis of organic residues of archaeological origin. Analyst 119: 909–14.Google Scholar
Evershed, R. P., Mottram, H. R., Dudd, S. N., Charters, S., Stott, A. W., Gibson, A. M., Conner, A., Blinkhorn, P. W. & Reeves, V.. 1997. New criteria for the identification of animal fats preserved in archaeological pottery. Naturwissenschaften 84: 402–06.Google Scholar
Evershed, R. P., Dudd, S. N., Charters, S., Mottram, H., Stott, A. W., Raven, A., van Bergen, P.F. & Bland, H. A.. 1999. Lipids as carriers of anthropogenic signals from prehistory. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Sciences 354: 19–31.Google Scholar
Evershed, R., Dudd, S. N., Copley, M. S., Berstan, R., Stott, A. W., Mottram, H. R., Buckley, S. R. & Crossman, Z.. 2002. Chemistry of archaeological animal fats. Accounts of Chemical Research 35: 660–68.Google Scholar
Evershed, R. P., Dudd, S. N., Copley, M. S. & Mukherjee, A. J.. 2003. Identification of animal fats via compound specific δ13C values of individual fatty acids: assessments of results for reference fats and lipid extracts of archaeological pottery vessels, in Budja, M. (ed.) Documenta Praehistorica, XXIX: 73–96. Ljubljana, Slovenia: University of Ljubljana.Google Scholar
Fletcher, M. & Lock, G. R.. 1991. Digging numbers: elementary statistics for archaeologists: 115–25. Oxford: Oxford University Committee for Archaeology.Google Scholar
Friedli, H., Lotcher, H., Oeschger, H., Siegenthaler, U. & Stauffer, B.. 1986. Ice core record of the 13C/12C ratio of atmospheric CO2 in the past two centuries. Nature 324: 237–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garwood, P. 1999. Grooved Ware in southern Britain: chronology and interpretation, in Cleal, R. & MacSween, A. (ed.) Grooved Ware in Britain and Ireland: Neolithic Studies Group seminar papers 3: 148–76. Oxford: Oxbow Books.Google Scholar
Gibson, A. M. 1986. Neolithic and Early Bronze Age pottery. Princes Risborough: Shire.Google Scholar
Giuffra, E., Kijas, J.M.H., Amarger, V., Carlborg, O., Jeon, J. T. & Andersson, L.. 2000. The origin of the domestic pig: independent domestication and subsequent introgression. Genetics 154: 1785–91.Google Scholar
Gregg, S. A. 1988. Foragers and farmers: population interaction and agricultural expansion in prehistoric Europe. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Grigson, C. 1981. The Bronze Age: fauna, in Simmons, I. G. & Tooley, M. J. (ed.) The environment in British prehistory: 191–99. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
Grigson, C. 1982. Porridge and pannage: pig husbandry in Neolithic Britain, in Bell, M. & Limbrey, S. (ed.) Archaeological Aspects of woodland ecology (BAR International Series 146): 297–314. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.Google Scholar
Hansel, F. A., Copley, M. S., Madureira, L.A.S. & Evershed, R. P.. 2004. Thermally produced δ- (o -alkylphenyl)alkanoic acids provide evidence for the processing of marine products in archaeological pottery vessels. Tetrahedron Letters 45: 2999–3002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harcourt, R. A. 1971. Animal bones from Durrington Walls, in Wainwright, G. J. & Longworth, I. H. (ed.) Durrington Walls: Excavations 1966-1968. (Society of Antiquaries of London Research Report 29). London: Society of Antiquaries of London.Google Scholar
Hey, G., Mulville, J. & Robinson, M.. 2003. Diet and culture in southern Britain: The evidence from Yarnton, in Parker Pearson, M. (ed.) Food, culture and identity in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age (British Archaeological Reports 1117): 79–88. Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Jing, Y. & Flad, R. K.. 2002. Pig domestication in ancient China. Antiquity 76: 724–32.Google Scholar
Kimpe, K., Jacobs, P. A. & Waelkens, M.. 2001. Analysis of oil used in late Roman oil lamps with different mass spectrometric techniques revealed the presence of predominantly olive oil together with traces of animal fat. Journal of Chromatography A 937: 87–95.Google Scholar
Kimpe, K. 2002. Mass spectrometric methods prove the use of beeswax and ruminant fat in late Roman cooking pots. Journal of Chromatography A 968: 151–60.Google Scholar
Larson, G., Dobney, K., Albarella, U., Fang, M. Y., Matisoo-Smith, E., Robins, J., Lowden, S., Finlayson, H., Brand, T., Willerslev, E., Rowley-Conwy, P., Andersson, L. & Cooper, A.. 2005. Worldwide phylogeography of wild boar reveals multiple centers of pig domestication. Science 307: 1618–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Legge, A. 1991. The animal remains from six sites at Down Farm, Woodcutts, in Barrett, J. C., Bradley, R. J. & Hall, M. (ed.) The prehistoric archaeology of Cranbourne Chase: 54–100. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Mottram, H. R., Dudd, S. N., Lawrence, G. J., Stott, A. W. & Evershed, R.P. 1999. New chromatographic, mass spectrometric and stable isotope approaches to the classification of degraded animal fats preserved in archaeological pottery. Journal of Chromatography A 833: 209–21.Google Scholar
Mukherjee, A. J., Copley, M. C., Berstan, R. & Evershed, R. P.. 2005. Interpretation of δ 13C Values of Fatty Acids in Relation to Animal Husbandry, in Outram, A. (ed.) Food Processing and Consumption in Prehistory. Proceedings of the 9th Conference of the International Council of Archaeozoology (ICAZ): 77–93. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Parker Pearson, M. 2003. Food, Culture and identity: an introduction and overview. Part 2: Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain - the culinary basis, in Parker, M. Pearson (ed.) Food, culture and identity in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age (British Archaeological Reports 1117): 1–30. Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Pollard, J. 1997. Neolithic Britain. Princes Risborough: Shire.Google Scholar
Ray, K. & Thomas, J.. 2003. In the kinship of cows: the social centrality of cattle in the earlier Neolithic of southern Britain, in Parker Pearson, M. (ed.) Food, culture and identity in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age (British Archaeological Reports 1117): 37–44. Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Reber, E. A., Dudd, S. N., van der Merwe, N.J. & Evershed, R. P.. 2004. Direct detection of maize in pottery residues via compound specific stable carbon isotope analysis. Antiquity 78: 682–91.Google Scholar
Richards, C. C. & Thomas, J. S.. 1984. Ritual activity and structured deposition in later Neolithic Wessex, in Bradley, R. & Gardiner, J. (ed.) Neolithic Studies (British Archaeological Reports 133): 189–218. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.Google Scholar
Sherratt, A. 1991. Sacred and Profane substances: the ritual use of narcotics in later Neolithic Europe, in Garwood, P., Jennings, D., Skeates, R. & Toms, J. (ed.) Sacred and profane (Oxford University Committee for Archaeology Monograph 32): 50–64. Oxford: Oxford University Committee for Archaeology.Google Scholar
Spangenberg, J. E., Jacomet, S. & Schibler, J.. 2006. Chemical analyses of organic residues in archaeological pottery from Arbon Bleiche 3, Switzerland - evidence for dairying in the late Neolithic. Journal of Archaeological Science 33: 1–13.Google Scholar
Thomas, J. 1999. Understanding the Neolithic. London & New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Woodbury, S. E., Evershed, R. P., Rossell, J. B., Griffith, R. E. & Farnell, P.. 1995. Detection of vegetable oil adulteration using gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry. Analytical Chemistry 67: 2685–90.Google Scholar