An isotopic generation
Four decades of stable isotope analysis in African archaeology
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6042399 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Emma Loftus (0000-0003-4442-8511, Oxford Archaeology, corresponding author), Patrick Roberts (0000-0002-4403-7548, Oxford Archaeology), J A Lee‐thorp (0000-0002-3291-0258, Oxford Archaeology), Julia A Lee-Thorp |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 51 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 88-114 |
| Publication date | 2016-01-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Azania Archaeological Research in Africa (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0067-270X • E-ISSN: 1945-5534 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/0067270x.2016.1150083 |
| OpenAlex | W2312728893 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
| References cited | 131 |
The application of stable isotope analysis in African archaeology has a long and distinguished pedigree. Many new developments were inspired by questions in the archaeology of the continent, helped considerably by the availability of African landscapes as natural laboratories for providing the essential underpinning of isotope ecology systematics. Stable isotopes are now regularly built into multi-disciplinary archaeological projects spanning the very long temporal and geographical span of human history on the African continent. On the fiftieth anniversary of Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa we evaluate these endeavours — the achievements, problems, constraints and potential of stable isotopic research in African archaeology. We begin with a discussion of the continent's role in developing understandings of stable carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and strontium isotope systematics, as used to interpret change in the archaeological record. We discuss the application of these principles within several areas of archaeological research, drawing on case studies from among late Pleistocene/Holocene hunter-gatherers, early food producers, complex societies of the African Iron Age and the individual life histories of the African slave trade. There is clearly much potential for further application in African archaeology
Archaeological science · Archaeology · Biology · Geography · Holocene · Isotope · Isotope analysis · Isotope geochemistry · Natural (archaeology · Pleistocene · Stable isotope ratio · Systematics · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Ecology · Geology · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
Reconstructing Extinct Hominin Diets
Isotopic Evidence of Diet and Mobility From the Megalithic Burials of the Rego da Murta Dolmens (Portugal)
Bioarchaeological insights into Late Eneolithic violence
A journey into the landscape of past feeding habits
Geochemical identity of pre-Dogon and Dogon populations at Bandiagara (Mali, 11th–20th cent. AD)
Isotopic evidence for dietary diversity at the mediaeval Islamic necropolis of Can Fonoll (10th to 13th centuries CE), Ibiza, Spain
Early medieval burial from the culmination of the Old Town Hill in Sandomierz
Osteological and stable isotope (δ13C and δ15N) analysis of faunal remains from Khami, Zimbabwe
Understanding the intersection of Rapid climate change and subsistence Practices
A Holocene Marine Climate Record in Mollusc Shells from the Southwest African Coast
An Altitudinal Cline in Tropical African Grass Floras and Its Paleoecological Significance
Predicting animal δ18O
Oxygen and Hydrogen Isotopes in the Hydrologic Cycle
Stable isotopes in tree rings
First dairying in green Saharan Africa in the fifth millennium bc
Carbon isotope fractionation between diet and bioapatite in ungulate mammals and implications for ecological and paleoecological studies
Development and Disintegration of Maya Political Systems in Response to Climate Change
Sr/86Sr ratios in modern and fossil food-webs of the Sterkfontein Valley
Isotopic evidence of early hominin diets
C 4 photosynthesis, atmospheric CO 2 , and climate
Carbon isotope fractionation in plants
C Content of human collagen as a measure of prehistoric diet in woodland North America
Carbon isotope compositions of terrestrial C3 plants as indicators of (paleo)ecology and (paleo)climate
A 1000-year high precision record of δ 13 C in atmospheric CO 2
Carbon Isotope Discrimination and Photosynthesis
Strontium isotope evidence for landscape use by early hominins
A stable isotope aridity index for terrestrial environments
The 15N/14N ratios of plants in South Africa and Namibia
Experimental Evidence for the Relationship of the Carbon Isotope Ratios of Whole Diet and Dietary Protein to Those of Bone Collagen and Carbonate
Two Categories of 13 C/ 12 C Ratios for Higher Plants
Used planet
Nitrogen isotopic ecology in southern Africa
Stable isotopes in precipitation
Years of European Climate Variability and Human Susceptibility
Models for Carbon Isotope Fractionation Between Diet and Bone
The distribution of C3 and C4 grasses and carbon isotope discrimination along an altitudinal and moisture gradient in Kenya
The geochemistry of the stable carbon isotopes
Isotopic Patterns in Modern Global Precipitation
Reconstruction of African human diet using bone collagen carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios
Influence of diet on the distribution of carbon isotopes in animals
Influence of diet on the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in animals
Nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition of bone collagen from marine and terrestrial animals
Nelson Bay Cave, Cape Province, South Africa, Parts i and ii: The Holocene Levels
Social, spatial and chronological patterning in marine food use as determined by ä 13 C measurements of Holocene human skeletons from the south‐western Cape, South Africa
On Isotopes and Old Bones
Isotopic Evidence for Diets of Prehistoric Farmers in South Africa
Follow the Senqu
An Historic Skeleton from the Slave Lodge at Vergelegen
The Role of Cattle in Southern African Agropastoral Societies
Mapungubwe and the Origins of the Zimbabwe Culture
Paleodiet studies using stable carbon isotopes from bone apatite and collagen
Mobility and kinship in the prehistoric Sahara
Persistent deathplaces and mobile landmarks
Archaeological evidence for climatic change during the last 2000 years in southern Africa
Passports from the past
Pre-Colonial Herding Strategies in the Shashe-Limpopo Basin, Southern Africa, Based on Strontium Isotope Analysis of Domestic Fauna
Isotopic Evidence for the Antiquity of Cattle-Based Pastoralism in Southernmost Africa
Feasting on Kasteelberg
Investigating Identity and Life Histories
The causes of land-use and land-cover change
Effects of diet, climate and physiology on nitrogen isotope abundances in terrestrial foodwebs
The canopy effect, carbon isotope ratios and foodwebs in amazonia
Strontium isotope ratios in fossil teeth from South Africa
Approaches to dietary reconstruction in the western Cape
Stable carbon isotope ratio differences between bone collagen and bone apatite, and their relationship to diet
Natural variations in the carbon isotope values of plants
Carbon isotope fractionation between diet, breath CO2, and bioapatite in different mammals
Determining Sheep Birth Seasonality by Analysis of Tooth Enamel Oxygen Isotope Ratios
A cultural proxy for drought
The grasshopper or the ant
As a Dietary Indicator in Modern and Archaeological Bone
Taxonomic, anatomical, and spatio-temporal variations in the stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions of plants from an African savanna
The Seasonal Mobility Model for Prehistoric Herders in the South-western Cape of South Africa Assessed by Isotopic Analysis of Sheep Tooth Enamel
Spatial, Species, and Temporal Variations in the13C/12C Ratios of C3Plants
Isotopic Determination of Seasonality in Diet and Death from Nubian Mummy Hair
Changing patterns of mobility as a response to climatic deterioration and aridification in the middle Holocene southern Sahara
The Environmental History of Tigray (Northern Ethiopia) in the Middle and Late Holocene
The First Herders at the Cape of Good Hope
Coastal Settlement between the Mouths of the Berg and Olifants Rivers, Cape Province
Holocene Environmental Change at Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa
Alteration of Enamel Carbonate Environments during Fossilization
Indian Ocean Food Globalisation and Africa
Influence of Diet and Age on Carbon Isotope Ratios in Ostrich Eggshell
Early African diaspora in colonial Campeche, Mexico
Trans‐Atlantic slavery
Temporal trends in stable isotopes for Nubian mummy tissues
Biogeochemical inferences of mobility of early Holocene fisher‐foragers from the Southern Sahara Desert
Using carbon isotopes to track dietary change in modern, historical, and ancient primates
Technical note
Investigations into the effect of diet on modern human hair isotopic values
Intra‐tooth stable isotope analysis of dentine
Inter‐ and intrahabitat dietary variability of chacma baboons ( Papio ursinus ) in South African savannas based on fecal δ 13 C, δ 15 N, and %N
Seasonal mobility in the late stone age
Isotope Assessment and the Seasonal-Mobility Hypothesis in the Southwestern Cape of South Africa [and Comments and Replies]
The introduction of pastoralism to southernmost Africa
Dietary and environmental reconstruction with stable isotope analyses of herbivore tooth enamel from the Miocene locality of Fort Ternan, Kenya
The hunters and the hunted revisited
Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of human and animal diet in Africa
Paleoenvironmental context of the Middle Stone Age record from Karungu, Lake Victoria Basin, Kenya, and its implications for human and faunal dispersals in East Africa
A meal on the hoof or wealth in the kraal? Stable isotopes at Kgaswe and Taukome in eastern Botswana
The elephant in the room
Beyond lifetime averages
Archaeology and Ethnohistory of the African Iron Age
Chemistry and Paleodietary Research
Isotopic Evidence for Early Maize Cultivation in New York State
Isotopic Studies of Human Skeletal Remains from a Sixteenth to Seventeenth Century AD Churchyard in Campeche, Mexico
Diet, Mobility, and Settlement Pattern among Holocene Hunter-Gatherers in Southernmost Africa
| Unique citing works | 9 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2017 - 2025 (9) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 9 |