Highly Variable Freshwater Reservoir Offsets Found along the Upper Lena Watershed, Cis-Baikal, Southeast Siberia

Bibliographic Data

ID9244845
AuthorsR J Schulting (0000-0002-4444-766X), Christopher B Ramsey (0000-0002-8641-9309), Vladimir I Bazaliiskii, Andrzej Weber (0000-0001-9336-9672)
Year2015
Volume57
Issue4
Pages581-593
Publication date2015-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueRadiocarbon (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0033-8222 • E-ISSN: 1945-5755
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2458/azu_rc.57.18458
OpenAlexW1923960168
LanguageEN
Citations received32
References cited68

A program of paired dating of human and faunal remains on a sample of 11 prehistoric (Mesolithic/Neolithic to Early Bronze Age) graves in the Upper Lena basin, southeast Siberia, was initiated to investigate the freshwater reservoir effect (FRE). The results show the presence of a substantial but highly variable offset, ranging from 255 to 1010 14 C yr. In contrast to previous studies centered on Lake Baikal and the Angara River, human stable nitrogen isotope values show little or no correlation with the radiocarbon offset, despite the clear trophic differences seen in δ 15 N between terrestrial and aquatic sources of protein in the region's isotope ecology. However, stable carbon isotope measurements show a moderate negative correlation of some predictive value ( r = −0.70, p = 0.016, df = 10). Two different regression equations have been calculated, the first using human δ 13 C values for the entire data set ( r 2 = 0.49) and the second, using both δ 13 C and δ 15 N values, limited to the Early Bronze Age of the southern Upper Lena ( r 2 = 0.84, p = 0.030, df = 5). The source of the old carbon in the Upper Lena River system is not clear. While the river flows over carbonate bedrock and is moderately alkaline, we suggest that old terrestrial carbon entering the riverine foodweb through bank erosion and other processes is a more likely candidate for the majority of the 14 C offset

Archaeology · Bedrock · Bronze Age · Carbonate · Drainage basin · Geography · Holocene · Isotopes of carbon · Isotopes of nitrogen · Mesolithic · Physical geography · Radiocarbon dating · Stable isotope ratio · Total organic carbon · Trophic level · Watershed · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Chemistry · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Isotope Analysis in Ecology · Ecology · Geology · Oceanography · Paleontology