Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Variability of Bone Collagen to Determine the Number of Isotopically Distinct Specimens

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12427004
AutoresCorrie Hyland (0000-0003-3531-1880, University of Oxford, autor correspondente), Michael Scott (0000-0003-4048-0937, University of Oxford), Michael B Scott (0000-0002-6110-0211), Jennifer Routledge (0000-0002-1827-7767, Trent University), P Szpak (0000-0002-1364-6834, Trent University)
Ano2021
Volume29
Fascículo2
Páginas666-686
Data de publicação2021-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Archaeological Method and Theory (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1072-5369 • E-ISSN: 1573-7764
EditoraSpringer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/s10816-021-09533-7
OpenAlexW3196643318
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas14
Referências citadas49

Archaeological and palaeontological excavations frequently produce large quantities of highly fragmentary bone. These bones can help to answer questions regarding past environments and human and animal lifeways via a number of analytical techniques but this potential is limited by the inability to distinguish individual animals and generate sufficiently large samples. Using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values of bone collagen ( δ 13 C, δ 15 N), we present a metric to identify the number of isotopically distinct specimens (NIDS) from highly fragmented faunal assemblages. We quantified the amount of intra-individual isotopic variation by generating isotopic data from multiple elements from individual animals representing a wide variety of taxa as well as multiple samples from the same skeletal element. The mean intra-individual variation (inter-bone) was 0.52‰ ( σ = 0.45) (Euclidean distance between two points in isotopic bivariate space), while the mean intra-bone variation was 0.63‰ ( σ = 0.06). Using archaeological data consisting of large numbers of individual taxa from single sites, the mean inter-individual isotopic variation was 1.45‰ ( σ = 1.15). We suggest the use of 1.50‰ in bivariate ( δ 13 C, δ 15 N) space as a metric to distinguish NIDS. Blind tests of modelled archaeological datasets of different size and isotopic variability resulted in a rate of misclassification (two or more elements from the same individual being classified as coming from different individuals) of < 5

Biology · Bivariate analysis · Isotope · Isotope analysis · Isotopes of carbon · Isotopes of nitrogen · Mineralogy · Stable isotope ratio · Statistics · Taxon · Total organic carbon · Variation (astronomy · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Isotope Analysis in Ecology · Mathematics · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Ecology · Geology · Paleontology