High-elevation environments present harsh challenges for the pursuit of agropastoral subsistence strategies and relatively little is known about the mechanisms early communities employed to adapt to such locations successfully. This article presents the sequential carbon and oxygen analysis of archaeological caprine teeth from Bangga (c. 3000–2200 BP), which is approximately 3750masl on the Tibetan Plateau. Made visible through this method, intra-tooth variation in isotopic composition allows insights into herding strategies that possibly included the provisioning of livestock with groundwater and agricultural fodder and summer grazing in saline or marsh environments. Such intensive provisioning differs markedly from lower-elevation agropastoralism.

Megalithic cultures of central India provide important links between the southern Neolithic-Chalcolithic cultures and the early Historical period (∼500 BC to ∼AD 700) and reveal knowledge of ancient traditions of early inhabitants. Scientific dating of these Megalithic burial sites is a challenging task due to scarcity of dateable material and alterations. Here, we present multiple accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14C) dates from equine tooth-enamel and organic food remains recovered from pots from Megalithic burials of the Vidarbha region. Using δ13CTOC and δ15N values of organic food remains recovered from pots, we deduced past-diet (palaeo-vegetation) that indicates C4 type of vegetation and thus arid climate during life-spans of these burials. We also analyzed stable δ13C and δ18O isotopes of equine tooth-enamel to investigate hydro-climatic conditions of Maharashtra (Vidarbha region). A total of 10 AMS 14C dates of tooth enamel provide a time range of AD 250–874 for two Megalithic burials. Two AMS 14C dates of organic food remains recovered from pots corroborated aforementioned time-range. The average δ13C and δ18O of equine tooth-enamel samples were −5.3 ± 2.1‰ and −2.9 ± 0.8‰, respectively, both significantly enriched compared to their modern counterparts (−13.7‰ ± 0.7 and −4.3‰ ± 1.1), indicating intense arid conditions in the past.

Late Quaternary terrestrial climate records from the semi-arid zone of the Western Cape of South Africa are rare. However, palaeoenvironmental information may be inferred from ancient termite mounds of the region. Calcrete lenses in these mounds have δ13C and δ18O values that show systematic changes with radiocarbon dates, which range from 33,629–36,709 to 21,676–23,256 cal yr BP. These dates confirm that these heuweltjies had been present in the landscape since the last glacial period. The decrease in δ13C and δ18O from 33,629–36,709 to 21,676–23,256 cal yr BP indicates that climate information is recorded by the calcretes. It is suggested that a progressive decline in air temperature and an increase in moisture availability, and a decline in abundance of C4 or CAM plants, occurred in the region during the time heuweltjie calcite precipitated.

Stable carbon and oxygen isotopic relations have been analysed in brachiopod, gastropod, and bivalve fossils from the La Meseta Formation (Eocene-?early Oligocene), Seymour (Marambio) Island, West Antarctica. The results indicate a shift in δ13C by 6 permil beginning in the middle part of the Unit II of the formation. This shift may imply a change from a largely stratified to a vigorously mixed ocean. Such an interpretation is corroborated by changes in the elemental proportions in the shell material. Alternatively, the carbon isotopic shift may be regarded as reflecting a change in the local depositional enviornment. Such an interpretation agrees with isotopic data from the Weddell Sea, which do not confirm the pattern observed in the La Meseta Formation. In any event, the oxygen isotopic curve does not decline parallel to the carbon curve and may thus imply a considerable climatic cooling event. This effect is so profound that it might be interpreted as evidence for glaciation, especially when taking into account the fact that this phenomenon coincides with the well-known cooling trend throughout the Eocene. If this interpretation is correct, the hypothesized Glaciation may possibly be correlated with the Polonez Glaciation, the largest Cenozoic glaciation known in the Antarctic Peninsula sector. Alternatively, it may be regarded as a local phenomenon, predating development of the icesheet.