BULK STABLE LIGHT ISOTOPIC RATIOS IN RECENT AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESINS: TOWARDS DETECTING THE TRANSPORT OF RESINS IN ANTIQUITY?*

We have applied and refined methods for the determination of bulk hydrogen, carbon and oxygen isotope ratios in modern and archaeological resins. The modern resins have a wide range of isotopic values and vary within the same tree, between individual trees, with species and location. For all isotopes measured, there is a general trend of increasing depletion of the heavier isotope with increasing altitude. There is also a linear trend between depletion of δD and δ¹³C values with increasing latitude; this trend is less clear for oxygen, but is related to the meteoric water line. Two case studies using archaeological resins known or suspected to have been transported in antiquity have been investigated to determine whether isotopic signatures can assist in pinpointing the geographical origin of the resin: Pistacia sp. resin from Canaanite amphorae imported into Egypt from known geographical locations in the eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age, and Roman amphorae sherds lined with Pinus sp. resin from sites ranging from Britain to the eastern Mediterranean. These results show separate groupings between the two resin types (pine/pistacia) and between the modern/archaeological resins. Some archaeological samples are distinct from the others and the modern resins show differences between geographical areas. However, there are no clear patterns relating the different Canaanite fabrics or the suggested manufacturing site of the Roman amphorae.     

新疆多岗墓地出土人骨的碳氮稳定同位素分析

拜城多岗墓地是新疆西部发现的墓葬数量较多的墓葬群之一,墓葬情况复杂,葬俗葬式多样,是早期铁器时代的研究资料。本文对于采集到的该墓地41具人骨进行碳氮稳定同位素分析,探讨多岗居民的饮食状况;并结合墓葬类型、随葬品种类,男女性别以及考古学分期等对不同条件人们的食物差别进行考察,为该区域早期铁器时代居民的饮食结构研究提供依据。分析结果显示,多岗居民δ15N平均值为12.56‰,表明食物中有较多的肉类;而δ13C分析平均值为-14.77‰,相应植物类食物中C4类植物为40%左右。参考周边遗址的出土遗存,其C4类植物应为粟或黍。     

Isotopic Reconstruction of the Late Longshan Period (ca. 4200–3900 BP) Dietary Complexity before the Onset of State‐Level Societies at the Wadian Site in the Ying River Valley,Central Plains,China

During the late Longshan period (ca. 4200–3900 BP) settlements on the Central Plains of China underwent a diversification in food production technologies, which set the stage for rapid economic and social development. The introduction of novel domesticates such as rice, wheat, cattle, and sheep not only provided more food choices, but also changed ideas concerning land use, farming techniques, and the use and mobilization of large scale labor forces. To better understand the contribution that these new dietary items and practices made to shaping the late Longshan period societies, a stable isotope ratio study of humans (n = 12) and animals (n = 42) was conducted at the late Longshan period site of Wadian. The human δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values are clustered into two distinct groups. One group of nine individuals (δ¹³C = −9.9 ± 0.7‰; δ¹⁵N = 7.5 ± 0.5‰) had a predominately C₄ diet based on millet grains with little protein input from the domestic animals. The other group of three individuals (δ¹³C = −14.3 ± 0.8‰; δ¹⁵N = 10.2 ± 0.3‰) had a mixed C₃/C₄ diet of millets and rice and were consuming sheep and cattle. The animals also displayed dietary diversity with the pigs (δ¹³C = −11.3 ± 2.5‰; δ¹⁵N = 6.9 ± 1.0‰, n = 10) and dogs (δ¹³C = −10.1 ± 1.0‰; δ¹⁵N = 7.2 ± 1.1‰, n = 7) having mostly a C₄ plant based diet (millets). In contrast, the cattle (δ¹³C = −12.8 ± 2.1‰; δ¹⁵N = 7.6 ± 0.7‰, n = 9), sheep (δ¹³C = −16.7 ± 0.9‰; δ¹⁵N = 7.6 ± 0.1‰, n = 2), and cervids (δ¹³C = −20.8 ± 0.9‰; δ¹⁵N = 5.0 ± 1.2‰, n = 10) had diets with a greater contribution from C₃ sources such as rice and wild plants. The discovery that humans and animals had different subsistence patterns indicates dietary complexity at Wadian and that rice agriculture, and cattle and sheep husbandry practices were already an important part of the local economy by the late Longshan period in the southern region of the Central Plains of China. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Scurvy‐related Morbidity and Death among Christopher Columbus' Crew at La Isabela,the First European Town in the New World (1494–1498): An Assessment of the Skeletal and Historical Information

This article explores the living conditions and specifically the possible etiologies of subperiosteal reactions among those seafarers who did not survive Christopher Columbus' second voyage to the Americas and died at La Isabela, the first permanent European settlement in the New World, which is located in the present‐day Dominican Republic. The town was founded in 1494 by Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) and occupied for only 4 years. This study analyses the macroscopic and histological evidence of the skeletal series excavated from this contact cemetery, which is presently curated at the Museo del Hombre Dominicano. Twenty of the 27 systematically scored individuals reveal subperiosteal bone accretions, and in at least 15 individuals, these accretions appear bilaterally. The morphology, distribution and healing stages of the majority of these lesions provide new, direct evidence suggesting severe adult scurvy, a condition caused by sustained vitamin C deprivation, which was common among seafarers before the 18th century. The historical context surrounding the individuals' death at the European contact settlement and the conditions and duration of Christopher Columbus' second transatlantic voyage to the New World represent key elements in the interpretation of these lesions. In this case, the evidence also corroborates the known failure of Columbus' crew to exploit the locally available foods rich in vitamin C. Scurvy probably contributed significantly to the outbreak of sickness and collective death within the first months of La Isabela's settlement, an aspect that inflects the current discussion about the degree of virulence of New World infections that decimated the European newcomers, who we conclude to have been already debilitated and exhausted by scurvy and general malnutrition. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Strontium and stable isotope evidence for diet and mobility in Roman Gloucester,UK

This paper presents the results of a multi-isotopic (oxygen, strontium, carbon and nitrogen isotopes) investigation of population and dietary diversity in Roman Gloucester, focusing on individuals found in a late 2nd century AD mass burial pit at London Road, and comparing them to those found in the nearby cemetery. There were no statistical differences in isotopic composition between mass grave and cemetery burials, suggesting, in agreement with the osteological evidence, that the mass burial was the result of a catastrophic event, probably an epidemic disease. Strontium and oxygen isotope analysis demonstrated considerable diversity in the origins of the Gloucester population, with evidence for both UK and non-UK individuals. Diet was predominately terrestrial and similar to that of other Romano-British populations. Elevated δ¹³C_dentine ratios in some individuals are correlated with raised δ¹⁸O_p values and are therefore probably due to childhoods spent in warmer climates, rather than dietary variation.     

东龙山遗址夏代早期文化的~(14)C-AMS年代学研究

文明起源是世界范围内的重大学术课题,夏、商、周三代是中国文明起源研究的关键阶段之一,但传世文献的确切记载只能上推到841BC.为此,国家设立重大科研项目--"夏商周断代工程",以期解决841 BC以前的夏、商、周三代纪年断代问题.     

THE SCIENTIFIC IDENTIFICATION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL JET-LIKE ARTEFACTS

Jet has been widely used in the past for jewellery but was just one of a range of black lithic materials employed. When worked into small objects these materials can be visually indistinguishable, yet discrimination is important because of the restricted occurrence of jet. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is a rapid non-destructive discriminatory technique, but not all samples are clearly classified, and inhomogeneity may pose problems. A reassessment of the use of XRF is reported. Other techniques considered include electron spin resonance, infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy and X-radiography. These were tested on geological materials to define an effective methodology for archaeological material. The recommended approach is a combination of XRF and X-radiography, although preliminary Fourier transform infrared results showed promise. The X-ray techniques were tested on Romano-British assemblages from Catterick and Stanwick.     

Isotopic Determination of Seasonality in Diet and Death from Nubian Mummy Hair

Sections of human hair from naturally desiccated Sudanese Nubian mummies representing X-Group (AD 350-550) and Christian (AD 550-1300) periods in the Wadi Halfa area have been analysed for their isotope ratios. Because the carbon in hair represents food intake over the growth period of this tissue, analysis comparing segments taken next to the scalp with those further along the shaft can indicate diet just prior to death as well as any recent shift in food consumption. Modern populations in this area practise seasonal crop scheduling which involves the cultivation of C₃ plants (wheat, barley and most fruits and vegetables) in the winter and the hardier C₄ plants (sorghum and millet) in the summer. Shifting isotopic values along the length of hair strands of the ancient inhabitants of this area demonstrate that this practice has its roots at least as far back as the Initial Phase of Intensive Agriculture. The most common season of death appears to have been summer, the time of greatest climatic, nutritional and physiological stress for both ancient and modern inhabitants.     

Dating of modified femora of extinct dwarf Hippopotamus from Southern Madagascar: Implications for constraining human colonization and vertebrate extinction events

Two significant events in the late Holocene history of Madagascar were (a) the arrival of people, and (b) the loss of nearly two dozen species of land vertebrates in the socalled “subfossil extinctions”. The consensus is that the faunal losses occurred shortly subsequent to human arrival, but the timing of these events is poorly constrained. The minimum age for initial human presence on the island may now be set at approximately 2000 bp, on the basis of AMS ¹⁴C dates for human-modified femora of extinct dwarf hippos from SW Madagascar. Assuming that this date also marks the beginning of deleterious human interactions with the subfossil fauna, and assuming that this fauna became completely extinct by 900 bp, the width of the anthropogenic “extinction window” may have been as long as c. 1000 a. This estimate, nearly twice the length of previous ones, is close to the unadjusted minimum for the duration of the terminal Pleistocene extinction event in the Americas. Whether or not this length of time comports with theoretical expectations of a “blitzkrieg” pattern of losses is uncertain, but greater refinement in dating the end of the subfossil extinctions is unlikely to produce radically shorter estimates of duration.     

关于夏商周碳十四年代框架

中国历史教科书将翻开新的一页,因为新的夏商周三代年表公布了,它将中国有确切纪年的历史向前推进了 １２２９年。 由历史学、天文学、考古学和Ｃ测年技术等学科的２００多位专家参加的我国建国以来社会科学领域规模最大的科学研究项目—夏商周断代工程,历经４年多的时间,终于实现了既定的目标,建立了三代年表。这标志着我国在年代学方面的研究又迈上了新的台阶。 夏商周三代年表从西周共和元年的公元前８４１年到公元前２０７０年跨越中国早期的三个朝代,总年数长达１０００多年,中间涉及了许多重要的年代定点和时段。其复杂性、其…