Invited response to K. Ryan’s comments on Coltrain et al. (2004) and Coltrain (2009): is Native Point “Burial 21” Dorset in age; were historic-era burials European in origin and how important were caribou in Sadlermiut diets?

This is an invited to response to K. Ryan’s comments on Coltrain et al. (2004) and Coltrain (2009). Both publications present stable isotope data and AMS radiocarbon dates on a suite of eastern Arctic burials from three sites in north-western Hudson Bay. In these articles, we examined the importance of bowhead whaling among Thule foragers at Silimiut and Kamarvik and contrasted their subsistence strategies with those of the proto-historic Sadlermiut, using the stable and radio-isotope chemistry of purified bone collagen to monitor variability in resource acquisition over time. Ryan dismisses a Dorset-era radiocarbon date on a burial collected by Collins from the T-1 site asserting that a single radiocarbon measurement is not a reliable indicator of age and thus the burial is Sadlermiut not Dorset. She also contests our assessment that two historic-era individuals in the Sadlermiut mortuary assemblage were either European or consumed diets relatively high in European foods. Ryan further argues that our reconstruction of protohistoric Sadlermiut diets is not in keeping with the archaeofaunal record. Her primary concern is a perceived lack of agreement between a subset of our findings and the archaeological record.     

Variation in collagen stable nitrogen values in black-tailed jackrabbits (Lepus californicus) in relation to small-scale differences in climate,soil, and topography

Longstanding observations about the relationship between increasing aridity and ¹⁵N enrichment in mammalian collagen values have led to an interest in their use as a paleoclimatic marker. Here we report on variability in collagen nitrogen values from five modern and two archaeological samples of black-tailed jackrabbits (Lepus californicus) from the eastern Great Basin of the United States (N = 178 individuals). Nitrogen δ¹⁵N values were highly variable within all samples. Modern samples showed significant differences despite similarities in average annual precipitation and temperature. Archaeological samples were indistinguishable from each other or from modern samples taken from the same area despite independent evidence for differences in precipitation for the two prehistoric periods considered. Differences between modern samples were most strongly associated with soil characteristics. We discuss these results in light of their relationship with topography and vegetation and highlight their implications for archaeological applications of stable nitrogen analyses in several contexts.     

A Late Holocene Population Bottleneck in California Tule Elk (Cervus elaphus nannodes): Provisional Support from Ancient DNA

Zooarchaeological analyses have suggested a possible case of late Holocene resource depression in California tule elk (Cervus elaphus nannodes). We develop and conduct a preliminary independent test of this here based on trends in genetic diversity derived from ancient DNA extracted from archaeological elk bone. Mitochondrial DNA sequence data from 24 tule elk temporally dispersed across the late Holocene deposits of the Emeryville Shellmound, California, provide provisional support for a decline in genetic diversity and a population bottleneck beginning about 1600 B.P. Final confirmation of this pattern must await complete replication of the sequences. Stable isotope analyses of the elk bone provide a record of change in the terrestrial environment across the period of deposition and no suggestion that climate change may have played a role in an elk population decline. The analysis has implications for our understanding of change in human behavior and biology during late Holocene of central California, the methodology of resource depression analyses, and the conservation biology of tule elk.     

Whither medical anthropology?

Alan Harwood. Rx: Spiritist as Needed. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1977. xi + 251 pp. $22.50.     

The stable and radio-isotope chemistry of southeastern Utah Basketmaker II burials: dietary analysis using the linear mixing model SISUS,age and sex patterning,geolocation and temporal patterning

The Bayesian linear mixing model SISUS is used to reconstruct reliance on maize and intake of animal protein from the stable carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) isotope values of 149 directly dated Basketmaker II burials. Maize is the primary dietary staple. δ¹³C values are also enriched by intake of yucca and wild C₄ plant foods but these resources are of minor importance in sampled diets. Animal protein intake is low and cottontail rabbits make the greatest contribution to female diets. Adolescent diets are indistinguishable from the diets of adult females and both groups are less reliant on artiodactyls than males. The δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O values of bone hydroxyapatite distinguish nursing infants and oxygen isotope values identify outsider adults relative to those local to the region where their deaths occurred. Most Utah Basketmaker II burials are contemporary with Black Mesa Lolomai phase occupations, postdating the Marsh Pass, AZ, White Dog phase. All burials in both studies were recovered from sheltered rather than open sites and reliance on maize does not increase over the temporal span of the Utah study, covering the two sigma range 415 BC–AD 322.