Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T03:18:32.582Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Isotopes, Plants, and Reservoir Effects: Case Study from the Caspian Steppe Bronze Age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

N Shishlina ,
E Zazovskaya ,
J van der Plicht  and
V Sevastyanov
N Shishlina*
Affiliation:
State Historical Museum, Moscow, Russia
E Zazovskaya
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
J van der Plicht
Affiliation:
Centre for Isotope Research, Groningen University, Groningen, the Netherlands. Also: Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands
V Sevastyanov
Affiliation:
Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

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 δ13C and δ15N values. In general, we observed that the older the sample, the lower the δ13C and δ15N values. We hypothesize that more positive values of δ13C and δ15N 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 consumption of different types of fodder. During periods of aridization, C4 and C3 plants with high δ15N 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 C3 vegetation with high δ15N values (13–15‰), and flesh/milk of domesticated animals. An alternative explanation is that humans consumed food from freshwater resources without reservoir effects.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 54 , Issue 3-4 , 2012 , pp. 749 - 760
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

Bobrov, A A. 2002. Phytolith analyses of contemporary and buried soils from kurgan burial grounds in Kalmykia (Fitolitny analiz sovremennykh i pogre-benykh pochv kurgannykh mogilnikov Kalmykii). In: Shishlina, NI, Tstutskin, EV, editors. Ostrovnoy Kurgan Burial Ground. Results of Interdisciplinary Investigation of North-Western Caspian Archaeological Sites. Moscow: State Historical Museum, p 137–66. In Russian.Google Scholar
Bogaard, A, Heaton, THE, Poulton, P, Merbach, I. 2007. The impact of manuring on nitrogen isotope ratios in cereals: archaeological implications for reconstruction of diet and crop management practices. Journal of Archaeological Science 34(3):335–43.Google Scholar
Demkin, VA, Borisov, AV, Demkina, TS, Yeltsov, MV, Borisova, MA, Klepikov, VM, Sergatskov, IV, Dyachenko, AN, Shishlina, NI, Tsutskin, EV. 2002. The Yergueni Hills soil and environment development during the Eneolithic and Bronze ages (Razvitiye pochv i prirodnoy sredy Ergeninskoy vozvyshennosty v epochi eneolita i bronzy). In: Shishlina, NI, Tsutskin, EV, editors. Ostrovnoy Kurgan Burial Ground. Results of Interdisciplinary Investigation of North-Western Caspian Archaeological Sites. Moscow: State Historical Museum, p 107–31. In Russian.Google Scholar
Dinesman, LG, Bold, G. 1992. History of Animal Grazing and Development of Pasture Degradation in the Mongolia Steppes. Historical Ecology of Wild and Domesticated Ungulate Animals. Moscow: Nauka. p 10–35. In Russian.Google Scholar
Iacumin, P, Bocherens, H, Chaix, L, Marioth, A. 1998. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes as dietary indicators of ancient Nubian populations (northern Sudan). Journal of Archaeological Science 25(4):293–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Longin, R. 1971. New method of collagen extraction for radiocarbon dating. Nature 230(5291):241–2.Google Scholar
Masanov, N. 1995. Kochevaya tsivilizatsiya kazakhov (osnovy zhiznedeyatelnosti nomadnogo obschestva) [Nomadic Civilization of the Kazaks (The Base of the Vital Functions of Nomadic Society)]. Moscow: Gorizont. In Russian.Google Scholar
Novikova, MA. 2001. Short description of vegetation of Mu-Sharet-1 and Mu-Sharet-4 watershed plateau in the Iki-Burul rayon of Kalmykia. In: Tsutskin, EV, Shishlina, NI, editors. Mu-Sharet Burial Grounds in Kalmykia: Interdisciplinary Investigation. Moscow: State Historical Museum, p 43–50. In Russian.Google Scholar
Schwarcz, HP, Dupras, TL, Fairgrieve, SI. 1999. 15N enrichment in the Sahara: in search of a global relationship. Journal of Archaeological Science 26(6):629–36.Google Scholar
Shishlina, NI. 2008. Reconstruction of the Bronze Age of the Caspian Steppes. Life Styles and Life Ways of Pastoral Nomads. BAR International Series 1876. Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Shishlina, NI, van der Plicht, J, Hedges, REM, Zazovskaya, EP, Sevastianov, VS, Chichagova, OA. 2007. The catacomb cultures of the North-West Caspian steppe: 14C chronology, reservoir effect, and paleodiet. Radiocarbon 49(2):713–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shishlina, NI, Zazovskaya, EP, van der Plicht, J, Hedges, REM, Sevastyanov, VS, Chichagova, OA. 2009. Paleoecology, subsistence and 14C chronology of the Eurasian Caspian steppe Bronze Age. Radiocarbon 51(2):481–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar