Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T09:43:48.323Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Freshwater Reservoir Offsets Investigated Through Paired Human-Faunal 14C Dating and Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Analysis at Lake Baikal, Siberia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2016

Rick J Schulting ,
Christopher Bronk Ramsey ,
Vladimir I Bazaliiskii ,
Olga I Goriunova  and
Andrzej Weber
Rick J Schulting*
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Dyson Perrins Building, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, United Kingdom
Christopher Bronk Ramsey
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Dyson Perrins Building, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, United Kingdom
Vladimir I Bazaliiskii
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and Ethnography, Irkutsk State University, Karl Marx Street 1, Irkutsk 664003, Russia
Olga I Goriunova
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and Ethnography, Irkutsk State University, Karl Marx Street 1, Irkutsk 664003, Russia
Andrzej Weber
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, 13–15 H.M. Tory Building, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2H4, Canada
*
2. Corresponding author email: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Thirty-three paired accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates on human and terrestrial faunal remains from the same Neolithic and Early Bronze Age graves are used to develop a correction for the freshwater reservoir effect (FRE) at Lake Baikal, Siberia. Excluding two outliers, stable nitrogen isotope (δ15N) values show a positive correlation (r2 = 0.672, p < 0.000) with offsets in 14C yr between paired human and fauna determinations. The highest offset observed in our data set is 622 yr, which is close to the value of ∼700 yr suggested for endemic seals in the lake. For each per mil increase in δ15N, the offset increases by 77 ± 10 yr in the overall data set. However, there are indications that different regression models apply in each of two microregions of Cis-Baikal. In the first, sites on the southwest shore of the lake and along the Angara River show a strong positive correlation between δ15N values and offsets in 14C yr (r2 = 0.814, p < 0.000). In the other, the Little Sea, both δ13C and δ15N values make significant contributions to the model (adjusted r2 = 0.878; δ13C p < 0.001; δ15N p < 0.000). This can be related to the complex 13C ecology of the lake, which displays one of the widest ranges of δ13C values known for any natural ecosystem. The results will be important in terms of refining the culture-history of the region, as well as exploring the dynamic interactions of hunter-gatherer communities both synchronically and diachronically.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 56 , Issue 3 , 2014 , pp. 991 - 1008
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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

Afanas'ev, AN. 1960. Vodnyi balans oz. Baikal. Obshchie morphometricheskie dannye kotloviny Baikala. Trudy Baikal'skoi limnologicheskoi stantsii, Volume XVIII. p 155–241.Google Scholar
Ascough, PL, Cook, GT, Church, MJ, Dunbar, E, Einarsson, A, McGovern, TH, Dugmore, AJ, Perdikaris, S, Hastie, H, FriÐriksson, A, Gestsdottir, H. 2010. Temporal and spatial variations in freshwater 14C reservoir effects: Lake Mývatn, northern Iceland. Radiocarbon 52(3):1098–112.Google Scholar
Bocherens, H, Drucker, D. 2003. Trophic level isotopic enrichments for carbon and nitrogen in collagen: case studies from recent and ancient terrestrial ecosystems. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 13(1–2):46–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brock, F, Bronk Ramsey, C, Higham, TFG. 2007. Quality assurance of ultrafiltered bone dating. Radiocarbon 49(2):189–92.Google Scholar
Brock, F, Higham, TFG, Ditchfield, P, Bronk Ramsey, C. 2010. Current pretreatment methods for AMS radiocarbon dating at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU). Radiocarbon 52(1):102–12.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C, Lee, S. 2013. Recent and planned developments of the program OxCal. Radiocarbon 55(2–3):720–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C, Schulting, RJ, Goriunova, OI, Bazaliiskii, VI, Weber, AW. 2014. Analyzing radiocarbon reservoir offsets through stable nitrogen isotopes and Bayesian modeling: a case study using paired human and faunal remains from the Cis-Baikal region, Siberia. Radiocarbon 56(2):789–99.Google Scholar
Colman, SM, Jones, GA, Rubin, M, King, JW, Pecks, JA, Orems, JH. 1996. AMS radiocarbon analyses from Lake Baikal, Siberia: challenges of dating sediments from a large, oligotrophic lake. Quaternary Science Reviews 15(7):669–84.Google Scholar
Cook, GT, Bonsall, C, Hedges, REM, McSweeney, K, Boroneant, V, Pettitt, PB. 2001. A freshwater diet-derived 14C reservoir effect at the Stone Age sites in the Iron Gates Gorge. Radiocarbon 43(2):453–60.Google Scholar
DeNiro, MJ. 1985. Postmortem preservation and alteration of in vivo bone collagen isotope ratios in relation to palaeodietary reconstruction. Nature 317(6040):806–9.Google Scholar
Falkner, KK, Measures, CI, Herbelin, SE, Edmond, JM, Weiss, RF. 1991. The major and minor element geochemistry of Lake Baikal. Limnology and Oceanography 36(3):413–23.Google Scholar
Falkner, KK, Measures, CI, Herbelin, SE, Edmond, JM, Weiss, RF. 1997. Minor and trace element chemistry of Lake Baikal, its tributaries, and surrounding hot springs. Limnology and Oceanography 42(3):329–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
France, RL. 1995. Differentiation between littoral and pelagic food webs in lakes using stable carbon isotopes. Limnology and Oceanography 40(7):1310–3.Google Scholar
Hedges, REM, Reynard, LM. 2007. Nitrogen isotopes and the trophic level of humans in archaeology. Journal of Archaeological Science 34(8):1240–51.Google Scholar
Higham, TFG, Warren, R, Belinskij, A, Härke, H, Wood, R. 2010. Radiocarbon dating, stable isotope analysis, and diet-derived offsets in ages from the Klin Yar site, Russian North Caucasus. Radiocarbon 52(2):653–70.Google Scholar
Hohmann, R, Kipfer, R, Peeters, F, Piepke, G, Imboden, DM, Shimarev, MN. 1997. Deep-water renewal in Lake Baikal. Limnology and Oceanography 42(5):841–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katzenberg, MA, Weber, A. 1999. Stable isotope ecology and palaeodiet in the Lake Baikal region of Siberia. Journal of Archaeological Science 26(6):651–9.Google Scholar
Katzenberg, MA, Goriunova, OI, Weber, A. 2009. Paleodiet reconstruction of Early Bronze Age Siberians from the site of Khuzhir-Nuge XIV, Lake Baikal. Journal of Archaeological Science 36(3):663–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katzenberg, MA, Bazaliiskii, VI, Goriunova, OI, Savel'ev, N, Weber, AW. 2010. Diet reconstruction of prehistoric hunter-gatherers in the Lake Baikal region. In: Weber, AW, Katzenberg, MA, Schurr, TG, editors. Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers of the Baikal Region, Siberia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p 175–91.Google Scholar
Katzenberg, MA, McKenzie, HG, Losey, RJ, Goriunova, OI, Weber, A. 2012. Prehistoric dietary adaptations among hunter-fisher-gatherers from the Little Sea of Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russian Federation. Journal of Archaeological Science 39(8):2612–26.Google Scholar
Keaveney, EM, Reimer, PJ. 2012. Understanding the variability in freshwater radiocarbon reservoir offsets: a cautionary tale. Journal of Archaeological Science 39(5):1306–16.Google Scholar
Kiyashko, SI, Richard, P, Chandler, T, Kozlova, TA, Williams, DF. 1998. Stable carbon isotope ratios differentiate autotrophs supporting animal diversity in Lake Baikal. Comptes Rendus Biologies 321(6):509–16.Google Scholar
Kozhov, M. 1950. Presnye vody Vostochnoi Sibiri [Freshwaters of East Siberia]. Irkutsk: Vostochno-Sibirskoe knizhnoe izdatel'stvo.Google Scholar
Kozhov, M. 1963. Lake Baikal and Its Life. The Hague: Dr. W. Junk.Google Scholar
Kozhov, M. 1972. Ocherki po baikalovedeniiu [Essays on Lake Baikal]. Irkutsk: Vostochno-Sibirskoe knizhnoe izdatel'stvo.Google Scholar
Kutner, M, Nachtsheim, CJ, Wasserman, W, Neter, J. 1996. Applied Linear Statistical Models. 4th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Lam, YM. 1994. Isotopic evidence for change in dietary patterns during the Baikal Neolithic. Current Anthropology 35(2):185–90.Google Scholar
Lillie, M, Budd, C, Potekhina, I, Hedges, REM. 2009. The radiocarbon reservoir effect: new evidence from the cemeteries of the middle and lower Dnieper basin, Ukraine. Journal of Archaeological Science 36(2):256–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Losey, RJ, Nomokonova, T, Goriunova, OI. 2008. Fishing ancient Lake Baikal, Siberia: inferences from the reconstruction of harvested perch (Perca fluviatilis) size. Journal of Archaeological Science 35(3):577–90.Google Scholar
Losey, RJ, Nomokonova, T, White, D. 2012. Fish and fishing in Holocene Cis-Baikal: a review. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 7:1–20.Google Scholar
Minagawa, M, Wada, E. 1984. Stepwise enrichment of 15N along food chains: further evidence and the relation between δ15N and animal age. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 48(5):1135–40.Google Scholar
Nomokonova, T, Losey, RJ, Goriunova, OI, Weber, AW. 2013. A freshwater old carbon offset in Lake Baikal, Siberia and problems with the radiocarbon dating of archaeological sediments: evidence from the Sagan-Zaba II site. Quaternary International 290–291:110–25.Google Scholar
Ogawa, NO, Yoshii, K, Melnik, NG, Bondarenko, NA, Timoshkin, OA, Smirnova-Zalumi, NS, Smirnov, VV, Wada, E. 2000. Carbon and nitrogen isotope studies of the pelagic ecosystem and environmental fluctuations of Lake Baikal. In: Minoura, K, editor. Lake Baikal. Amsterdam: Elsevier. p 262–72.Google Scholar
Olsen, J, Heinemeier, J, Lübke, H, Lüth, F, Terberger, T. 2010. Dietary habits and freshwater reservoir effects in bones from a Neolithic NE German cemetery. Radiocarbon 52(2–3):635–44.Google Scholar
Osipov, EY, Khlystov, OM. 2010. Glaciers and meltwater flux to Lake Baikal during the Last Glacial Maximum. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 294(1):4–15.Google Scholar
Pastukhov, VD. 1993. Nerpa Baikala [The Baikal Seal]. Novosibirsk: Nauka.Google Scholar
Peeters, E, Kipfer, R, Hohmann, R, Hofer, M, Imboden, DM, Kodenev, GG, Khozder, T. 1997. Modeling transport rates in Lake Baikal: gas exchange and deep water renewal. Environmental Science and Technology 31(2):2973–82.Google Scholar
Prokopenko, AA, Williams, DF. 2004. Deglacial methane emission signals in the carbon isotopic record of Lake Baikal. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 218(1–2):135–47.Google Scholar
Prokopenko, AA, Williams, DF, Karabanov, EB, Khursevich, GK. 1999. Response of Lake Baikal ecosystem to climate forcing and pCO2 change over the last glacial/interglacial transition. Earth and Planetary Science Utters 172(3–4):239–53.Google Scholar
Schoeninger, MJ, DeNiro, MJ, Tauber, H. 1983. Stable nitrogen isotope ratios of bone collagen reflect marine and terrestrial components of prehistoric human diet. Science 220(4604):1381–3.Google Scholar
Schurr, MR. 1998. Using stable nitrogen isotope ratios to study weaning behavior in past populations. World Archaeology 30(2):327–42.Google Scholar
Seal, RR, Shanks, WC. 1998. Oxygen and hydrogen isotope systematics of Lake Baikal, Siberia: implications for paleoclimate studies. Limnology and Oceanography 43(6):1251–61.Google Scholar
van Klinken, GJ. 1999. Bone collagen quality indicators for palaeodietary and radiocarbon measurements. Journal of Archaeological Science 26(6):687–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward, GK, Wilson, SR. 1978. Procedures for comparing and combining radiocarbon age determinations: a critique. Archaeometry 20(1):19–31.Google Scholar
Watanabe, T, Nakamura, T, Watanabe Nara, F, Kakegawa, T, Nishimura, M, Shimokawara, M, Matsunaka, T, Senda, R, Kawai, T. 2009. A new age model for the sediment cores from Academician ridge (Lake Baikal) based on high-time-resolution AMS 14C data sets over the last 30 kyr: paleoclimatic and environmental implications. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 286(3–4):347–54.Google Scholar
Waters-Rist, AL, Bazaliiski, VI, Weber, A, Katzenberg, MA. 2011. Infant and child diet in Neolithic hunter-fisher-gatherers from Cis-Baikal, Siberia: intra-long bone stable nitrogen and carbon isotope ratios. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 146(2):225–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weber, AW, Bettinger, RL. 2010. Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers of Cis-Baikal, Siberia: an overview for the new century. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 29(4):491–506.Google Scholar
Weber, AW, Goriunova, OI. 2013. Hunter-gatherer migrations, mobility and social relations: a case study from the Bronze Age Baikal region, Siberia. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 32(3):330–46.Google Scholar
Weber, AW, Link, DW, Katzenberg, MA. 2002. Huntergatherer culture change and continuity in the Middle Holocene of the Cis-Baikal, Siberia. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 21(2):230–99.Google Scholar
Weber, AW, McKenzie, H, Beukens, R. 2010. Radiocarbon dating of Middle Holocene cultural history in Cis-Baikal. In: Weber, AW, Katzenberg, MA, Schurr, TG, editors. Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers of the Baikal Region, Siberia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p 27–49.Google Scholar
Weber, AW, White, D, Bazaliiskii, VI, Goriunova, OI, Savel'ev, NA, Katzenberg, MA. 2011. Hunter-gatherer foraging ranges, migrations, and travel in the middle Holocene. Baikal region of Siberia: insights from carbon and nitrogen stable isotope signatures. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 30(4):523–48.Google Scholar
Weber, AW, Goriunova, OI, McKenzie, HG, Lieverse, AR, editors. 2012. Kurma XI, a Middle Holocene Hunter-Gatherer Cemetery on Lake Baikal. Edmonton: Canadian Circumpolar Institute Press.Google Scholar
Weiss, RE, Carmack, EC, Koropalov, VM. 1991. Deep-water renewal and biological production in Lake Baikal. Nature 349(6311):665–9.Google Scholar
Wood, RE, Higham, T, Buzilhova, A, Surorov, A, Heinemeier, J, Olsen, J. 2013. Freshwater radiocarbon reservoir effects at the burial ground of Minino, northwest Russia. Radiocarbon 55(1):163–77.Google Scholar
Yoshii, K. 1999. Stable isotope analysis of benthic organisms in Lake Baikal. Hydrobiologia 411:145–59.Google Scholar
Yoshii, K, Melnik, NG, Timoshkin, OA, Bondarenko, NA, Anoshko, PN, Yoshioka, T, Wada, E. 1999. Stable isotope analyses of the pelagic food web in Lake Baikal. Limnology and Oceanography 44(3):502–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar