Paleodiet

Книга посвящена опыту биоархеологического изучения палеоантропологических материалов, отражающих историю населения крупнейшего города Азиатского Боспора – Фанагории. Античный город в окружении местного населения – один из наиболее ярких исторических «опытов» создания культурно-сложных обществ.  Палеодемографическое исследование, реконструкция традиций питания, мобильности с использованием данных об изотопном составе кости помогают воссоздать особенности образа жизни жителей античной Фанагории | The initial results of our work are presented in
this book. The first part dedicated to general methodological and historiographic discussion. The second one includes results of bioarcheological study of human skeletal materials, as the mirror the history of the
population of the largest city of the Asian Bosporus —
Phanagoria. The population of the antique city surrounded by the local groups is one of the brightest historical “cases” of societies with the complex cultures. In the future, we plan to continue of the bioarchaeological studies of some culturally complex societies on the base of the Medieval “cases”.

The island of Carriacou in the southern Grenadines, Lesser Antilles, has been the focus of interdisciplinary archaeological research since 2003, focused on ceramic-associated assemblages dating between c. AD 400 and 1300. Amerindians here exploited marine foods, but patterned subsistence has not been inferred directly from recovered human remains. Here, we present the first stable isotope data from bone collagen
and bone apatite of individuals (n = 14) from the Grand Bay site that date to post–AD 1000. Average δ13Cco (−12.8), δ15N (11.1), δ13Cap (−8.6), and 13Cap-co (4.1) values substantiate a marine based diet. No significant differences are observed between males and females; however, one subadult is an isotopic outlier based on its δ13Cco and 13Cap-co values. Bone collagen values suggest high marine protein at Carriacou, different from data reported for contemporaneous groups in the Greater Antilles, broadly similar to the northern Lesser Antilles, andmost similar to the Bahamas,where reef-based systems are ubiquitous. Bone apatite and bone collagen isotope results underscore the importance of shellfish on Carriacou as previously observed in the zooarchaeological record. At present, these data do not provide the interpretative power to confirmor refute the presence/absence of maize in the diet during the mid-Ceramic Saladoid in the southern Lesser Antilles.

Contextual analysis of the Lazio diet and health in the early Iron Age (the IInd
Latial period, ca. X-IX cent. BC) – The Latium Vetus, the region between the Tiber and Circeo, offers particularly favorable conditions for a survey on the subsistence economy and on health and nutrition in the initial phases of the Iron Age. Compared to the neighboring regions – in particular Campania and Etruria – the former Lazio is characterized by its limited size, the homogeneity of the material culture and the founding principles of community organization: the articulation of community kinship groups and the centralization of political decision. Based on this very favorable archaeological situation, the study aimed to detect if the regional cultural
homogeneity could also be extended to the eating habits and at the community health status of this period. In this regard, four samples have been examined, characterized by an anthropological and archaeological good standard documentation: the necropolis of the district of Gabii – Osteria dell’Osa and Castiglione – and the groups of tombs of the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina and the Forum of Caesar in the central area of Rome.

A escavação arqueológica de salvaguarda realizada em 2008 no Largo da Igreja de Sarilhos Grandes originou
um projeto de investigação interdisciplinar que visa o estudo da sua população desde época Medieval. Este
trabalho pretende discutir a análise paleobiológica da coleção osteológica humana escavada em 2008. Foi estimado
um número mínimo de 24 indivíduos entre o total de 21 enterramentos mal preservados, 5 ossários
e restantes ossos desarticulados. De entre as lesões identificadas (e.g., cáries, tártaro, osteomas, nódulo de
Schmorl, osteoartrose), várias parecem indiciar deficiências nutricionais, principalmente nos indivíduos mais
jovens. Uma nova intervenção arqueológica está já programada para o local de forma a serem aprofundadas
várias questões e abertas novas perspetivas sobre a população de Sarilhos Grandes.
Palavras-chave: Arqueologia, Necrópole, Paleodemografia, Paleopatologia, Stresse nutricional.

This volume presents the results of current paleoethnobotanical research in northeastern North America, defined here as New England, New York, and Pennsylvania (Figure 1.1). Paleoethnobotany encompasses all aspects of the investigation of prehistoric human-plant relationships from the identification and dating of plant remains to modeling the evolution of prehistoric plant communities and agriculture. The Northeast has been almost invisible as paleoethnobotany has grown to be an important discipline in Eastern Woodlands archaeology. This volume is presented as an attempt to raise the visibiity of paleoethnobotanical research being carried out in the Northeast. As such, although most of the chapters are concerned in one way or another with prehistoric agriculture, there is no single paleoethnobotanical theme guiding the volume's content.

Evidence for the histories of maize, bean, and squash in New York and the greater northeastern North America has changed dramatically over the past decade. Here I review the new lines of evidence and three models that can lead to better understandings of that new evidence.

The New Issue of MAA (www.maajournal.com) August 2016 with papers on : GIS, IT, Archaeoastroomy, numismatics, settlement archaeology and more.....
FREE DOWNLOAD, REAL OPEN ACCESS.......

1. EXAMINATION AND ANALYSES OF A WOODEN FACE A THE MUSEUM STORAGE AT THE FACULTY OF ARCHAEOLOGY, CAIRO UNIVERSITY
Yassin Zidan, Nesrin N.M. El Hadidi*, Mourad F. Mohamed
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.47538
2. A STUDY ON CHALICES FROM BEYCESULTAN: THEIR FUNCTION, SOCIAL MEANING AND CULTURAL INTERACTIONS
F. Dedeoğlu
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.47539
3. A POSSIBLE ATTESTATION OF THE NABATAEAN MINISTER SYLLAEUS IN A NEW ANCIENT NORTH ARABIAN (SAFAITIC) INSCRIPTION
Nada Al-Rawabdeh and Sabri Abbadi
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.47540
4. IT-INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGIES TRANSFER TO HERITAGE SITES: THE CASE OF MADABA, JORDAN
Monther M. Jamhawi, Zain A. Hajahjah
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.47541
5. GIS AND GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS IN SUPERFICIAL OPEN-AIR SITES: THE CASE OF RAÑA DE CAÑAMERO NEANDERTHAL SETTLEMENT (GUADIANA BASIN, SPAIN)
Jesús Fernández Fernández, David Álvarez Alonso and Pablo Alonso González
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.47542
6. CRANIAL AND POST-CRANIAL TRAUMATIC INJURY PATTERNS IN VAN CASTLE MOUND MEDIEVAL POPULATION
Ahmet Cem Erkman, Okşan Başoğlu, Gülüşan Özgün Başıbüyük, Pınar Gözlük Kırmızıoğlu, Ayhan Yiğit, Yarenkür Alkan Yalçın, Ferhat Kaya
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.47543
7. CONSIDERING THE RE-USE OF LATE BRONZE AGE BUILDINGS IN LIGHT OF CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION AND HUMAN REMAINS AT BEYCESULTAN
Başak Boz
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.48531
8. NANOCOMPOSITES FOR THE PROTECTION OF GRANITIC OBELISKS AT TANIS, EGYPT
Fatma M. Helmi, Yasser K. Hefni
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.48820
9. THE HANNIBAL ROUTE CONTROVERSY AND FUTURE HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATION IN THE WESTERN ALPS
W.C. Mahaney
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53065
10. AUTHENTICATION AND CONSERVATION OF MARINE ARCHAEOLOGICAL COINS EXCAVATED FROM UNDERWATER OF THE RED SEA, SAUDI ARABIA
Omar Abdel-Kareem, Awad Al-Zahrani, Aljouhara Al-Sadoun
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53066
11. AN OVERVIEW OF THE ECONOMIC STATUS OF THE SAFAVID ERA ON THE BASIS OF SILVER COINS, CASE STUDY: SHAH ABBAS II AND SULTAN HUSSEIN
Hassan Kohansal Vajargah
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53068
12. ANALYTICAL STUDY AND CONSERVATION OF GILDED MUMMIFORM CARTONNAGE FROM THE GRECO-ROMAN PERIOD IN CAIRO MUSEUM
Mona F. Ali,  Ahmed M.El Sheikha, Alaa E. Ali
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53070
13. NEW FINDINGS ON THE CHARACTERIZATION OF ROMAN BEDROCK MORTARS: INTERPRETING THE EVIDENCE FROM ROMAN PINO DEL ORO GOLD MINES (SPAIN)
C. Vázquez-Calvo, R. Fort, D. Romero, A. Beltrán and F. J. Sánchez-Palencia
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53072
14. ANALYSIS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL BONES FROM DIFFERENT SITES IN EGYPT BY A MULTIPLE TECHNIQUES (XRD – EDX – FTIR)
Gomaa Abdel-Maksoud, Alaa El-Sayed
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53073
15. IDENTIFICATION OF (PROBABLY POLISH) COCHINEAL AND OTHER DYES IN BYZANTINE TEXTILES OF THE 14TH CENTURY FROM MOUNT ATHOS
Dimitrios Mantzouris, Ioannis Karapanagiotis, and Christos Karydis
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53074
16. ASTRONOMY AND LANDSCAPE AT THE PREHISTORIC SETTLEMENT VILLAGGIO DEI FARAGLIONI, USTICA, SICILY
Franco Foresta Martin, Giulio Magli
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53075

Previous research into the dietary habits and subsistence practices of Early Bronze Age (3rd millennium BCE) Anatolian populations utilising stable isotope analyses (δ13C and δ15N) demonstrated that there was a general homogeneity in isotopic values at both an intra- and inter-population level. This was also shown to be the case in relatively contemporary populations in the regions neighbouring the Anatolian Peninsula; Greece/the Aegean, and northern Mesopotamia. This isotopic homogeneity suggested that there was a dietary and subsistence strategy uniformity for the time period. In this study, adult human δ13C and δ15N values from the Early Neolithic to the Late Byzantine periods of the Greater Near East were collated and examined to further investigate dietary habits and subsistence strategies supra-regionally, as well as diachronically. This synthesis of the isotopic data is examined in conjunction with archaeobotanical and archaeozoological data to test the hypothesis of a distinctive model of staple finance. This holistic and big data approach demonstrates that, plausibly, there is a comparatively characteristic model of staple finance for the late 4th – early 2nd millennium BCE. However, the results also demonstrate that the isotopic homogeneity observed for Early Bronze Age Anatolia is not as ubiquitous across the larger region, although there are distinctive diachronic patterns.

El marco de interacción que se establece entre el Homo sapiens y otras especies, es uno de los nichos de estudio en los que podemos profundizar a raíz de los restos materiales. La capacidad que tenemos de crear nuestro propio mundo con base en lo que nos rodea, hace que los animales intercedan en ello, situándose los domésticos en un plano de relación privilegiado. Es aquí donde el caso del perro (Canis familiaris) resulta un campo paradigmático de estudio, que ha arrojado considerables resultados dentro de la investigación arqueológica mexicana. Sin embargo, al revisar este fenómeno en la región del Occidente de Mesoamérica, surge la necesidad de realizar una aproximación integradora, que no se limite a la recurrente visión postclasica del perro como animal de paso al más allá.
Con la perspectiva teórica que la Zooarqueología Social Interpretativa ofrece, desarrollamos una estrategia de investigación con base en estudios de caso, adscritos a tres subáreas distintas. En las Tierras Altas Orientales se emplaza el sitio de La Mina (Michoacán), concretamente en la orilla sur del Lago de Cuitzeo. Se trata de una plataforma habitacional de finales del Epiclásico (500/600–900 A.D.), con entierros en su base donde aparecen cachorros junto a humanos. El segundo caso lo constituye el sitio de Los Guachimontones (Jalisco), en el centro de las Tierras Altas Occidentales. Una urbe neurálgica para el Clásico temprano (100 B.C.–250 A.D.), en la que se documentan cánidos domésticos en diversos contextos hasta el Postclásico (900–1521 A.D.). Por último, en las Planicies Costeras estudiamos el sitio de la Loma Funeraria en la Terminal de Gas Natural Licuado Manzanillo y el área residencial y fúnebre de Chocohuistle en el Patio de Maniobras Tepalcates II. Una amplia muestra de perros y humanos compartiendo el mismo espacio, durante un intervalo temporal que va del Formativo terminal a inicios del Postclásico (300 B.C.-900 A.D.).
Las bases metodológicas utilizadas para analizar este universo de muestra cuentan con una orientación hermenéutica, en las que prima la obtención de datos inductivos y la colaboración en términos transdisciplinares. Sus fundamentos son el análisis de los restos óseos, la obtención de dataciones numéricas y la estimación de tendencias paleodietéticas, mediante un protocolo arqueométrico de lectura de elementos traza por XRF. De esta forma accedemos al análisis de la relación entre el perro, el humano y viceversa en sus propios términos, con el objetivo principal de reconocer el contexto social en el que se dio esta simbiosis. Aún con todo y que la mayoría de nuestros casos son potencialmente fúnebres los resultados reflejan un panorama heterogéneo, reafirmando la maleabilidad de formas que toma la relación que hemos mantenido con estos cuadrúpedos.

The objective of this study was to develop, test and evaluate a specifically defined interdisciplinary approach—the human-centred approach—as applied to a case study, Iron Age Öland. Four themes were selected to highlight different aspects of particular interest in Öland: taphonomy, diet, migration, and social organization. The uncremated human skeletal remains from Öland are the basis for this study. Different aspects of the bones, such as spatial distribution and chemical and physical properties, were investigated. The methods used include osteological methods, image-based modelling, isotopic analysis of bone (δ13C and δ15N; 14C) and enamel (87Sr/86Sr, δ18O), statistical modelling, and graph-based network analysis.
The great impact of the choice of methodology in the different papers was apparent in evaluating how the human-centred approach could be practiced.
The concept developed in Paper I, Virtual Taphonomy, provided deeper insight into the specific case study of Öland but also showed the potential of this methodology for archaeology and osteology in general.
The approach to migration in Paper II gave results differing from those in Paper IV. The use of a second isotope (δ18O) in Paper IV showed how some individuals were clearly not from an area close by enough to fit within the proposed areas in Paper II. Paper IV also questioned the definitions of 87Sr/86Sr baseline and the interpretation process for deciding whether an individual is determined as a migrant. While the population level approach to migration in Paper II allowed for a discussion on the mechanisms behind migration, the approach in Paper IV instead gave insight into the nature and expression of migration within Öland’s society.
In Paper III, it was demonstrated that a shift in diet (isotope variation) did not coincide with the relative typological chronology but instead should be studied by more independent chronology (such as 14C). The isotope results for Öland could also be interpreted completely differently today due to new standards for understanding how isotope values relate to human diet.
Paper V showed how a transparent analysis of isotope results, osteological analysis, and archaeological parameters could be used to discuss societal development using graph-based network analysis.
Using the human-centred approach to Iron Age Öland resulted in some new insights and a rethinking of society, particularly regarding diet and migration. The interpretation of the diet isotopes means that the pastoralist subsistence likely transformed the Ölandic landscape much earlier than previously thought. The dietary shift places the start of this in the final two centuries BC, not AD 200. In the Late Iron Age, the migration levels doubled, especially as women were immigrating. The people settling Öland were coming from diverse geographical areas in both periods, with the addition of more distant migrants in the Late period. I argue this is part of a creolization process in Öland in the Late Iron Age, detectable in burial practice and diet. The starting point of this great immigration is difficult to define as uncremated human remains are largely lacking in the period AD 200–700. Around AD 200, there is also a change in social organization indicated through the perceptible use of violence. I interpret this as a society where elders had diminished social power compared to earlier times, and when the increasing military focus throughout Scandinavia was also established in Öland.
In conclusion, the exploration of a human-centred archaeology gave new insights of relevance to archaeology at large, not just Iron Age Öland. In particular, the strong interpretational aspects of isotopes could be demonstrated, as well as the great advantages of applying digital archaeological theory and method to human skeletal remains.

Este volumen es una guía ilustrada de material microbotánico moderno que sirve como fuente de
consulta para las investigaciones paleoetnobotánicas del Ecuador y de otros países vecinos. El trabajo técnico aquí esbozado se ocupa de la descripción morfométrica general de los almidones modernos extraídos de ciertas plantas silvestres y domésticas siendo, algunas de ellas, recursos
fitoculturales de gran importancia histórica para los habitantes de las tierras altas y bajas del noroeste sudamericano. Los datos reportados pretenden ser un corpus de información, de comparación y de contraste para las investigaciones paleoetnobotánicas formales desarrolladas en áreas geoculturales similares a Ecuador, con las cuales se pueden recuperar almidones antiguos de aquellos objetos arqueológicos directamente relacionados con el procesamiento, con la cocción o con el consumo de plantas almidonosas. Todo estudio de almidones antiguos en el ámbito de la arqueología requiere que previamente se confeccionen colecciones comparativas modernas de plantas almidonosas importantes para la región de interés. Esta guía, que incluye cientos de microfotografías de almidones y de plantas económicas o potencialmente útiles, ayudará a robustecer el proceso de identificación e interpretación de estos restos microbotánicos arqueológicos. Así, las investigaciones paleoetnobotánicas podrán contar con información firme para indagar en el rol que tuvieron algunas plantas del hemisferio en el complejo entramado de evolución sociocultural de nuestros pueblos prehispánicos.

Resumen

La presente investigación profundiza en las interrelaciones fitoculturales de dos comunidades Huecoide que se asentaron en las islas de Vieques y Puerto Rico (La Hueca y Punta Candelero) hace aproximadamente 2,300 años. Los objetivos planteados fueron, entre otros: a) caracterizar por primera vez la agroeconomía de estos pueblos y, b) interpretar el desempeño de las plantas como objetos naturales humanizados y utilizados conscientemente durante los procesos de movilidad humana inter-Caribeña. Con la finalidad de comprender las características de los procesos adaptativos Huecoide en los sitios estudiados, se elaboró un marco referencial constituido por la ecología cultural y la fenomenología hermenéutica. Aunque ambos enfoques parecen antagónicos, fue posible conciliar los principales aspectos de ellos que se refieren a las estrategias adaptativas y a los aspectos relacionales que ocurren entre el ente humano, el entorno biofísico y el cultural. La idea de un marco referencial “híbrido” respondió a la búsqueda de un conjunto de interpretaciones arqueológicas que pudiese mostrar el rol dinámico de la agencia humana en los procesos culturales adaptativos de una parte de la historia antigua antillana. Este trabajo es un primer paso al respecto.

Luego de construir las herramientas teóricas, se pudo elaborar un programa de investigación arqueobotánica a partir del estudio de gránulos de almidón aplicado a dos conjuntos de herramientas líticas relacionadas con el procesamiento de plantas. Primeramente, se construyeron varios protocolos de análisis para los almidones y se estableció una colección de referencia moderna de fuentes vegetales importantes para la región. Esta tarea sirvió para contrastar los almidones arqueológicos con los almidones procedentes de plantas conocidas. Las herramientas arqueológicas estudiadas fueron ubicadas en tres fases temporales por cada sitio arqueológico, lo que permitió desarrollar un análisis y discusión diacrónico sobre la producción y uso diferenciado (alimentico, ritual, medicinal) de plantas. Los resultados obtenidos sugieren que lo que conocemos como cultura La Hueca en Las Antillas fue inicialmente el producto de movilizaciones humanas, ocurridas ca. 500 a.C., desde la región que comprende actualmente los territorios de Costa Rica, Panamá, Colombia y las tierras bajas de Ecuador. La estrategia adaptativa inicial de los pobladores Huecoide en Vieques consistió en la aplicación de un sistema agroeconómico conocido por ellos, típicamente continental (itsmo-colombiano), en el cual el uso de la yuca, el maíz, la batata, la yautía y otras plantas más fueron importantes como alimento, pero también como objetos culturizados utilizados para enfrentar los nuevos espacios. Asimismo, el uso diferencial de plantas posterior a su arribo a Vieques y Puerto Rico, muestra que los grupos estudiados fueron adoptando y adecuando, paulatinamente, plantas de origen antillano en su sistema de preferencias, y a la misma vez, siguieron incorporando nuevas plantas continentales.

La investigación realizada ofrece las primeras interpretaciones arqueológicas, apoyadas por un sistemático estudio arqueobotánico, de algunos de los procesos socioculturales que hicieron posible a dos comunidades Huecoide persistir y evolucionar en un dinámico ambiente de interacciones humanas y naturales en el norte de Las Antillas.

Abstract

The present work inquires into the phyto-cultural interrelationships of two Huecoid communities that inhabited Vieques and Puerto Rico (La Hueca and Punta Candelero) around 2300 years ago. The primary objectives of this investigation were, among others: to characterize for the first time the agroeconomy of these communities and to interpret the role of plants as humanized natural objects which were consciously used during the movement of these peoples across the insular Caribbean. With the aim of understanding the characteristics of the adaptive processes of these Huecoid people in these sites, a conceptual framework constituted by a combination of cultural ecology and hermeneutic phenomenology was established. Although both of these approaches seem antagonistic at first glance, it was possible to conciliate their principal premises that make reference to the adaptive strategies and the relational aspects that take place between humans and their biophysical and cultural landscapes. The idea of a “hybrid” conceptual framework responded to the search of archaeological interpretations that could show the dynamic role of human agency in the adaptive cultural processes that took place during this early part of the ancient history of the Antilles.

After articulating the theoretical framework, it was possible to elaborate an investigative archaeobotanical program based on the study of starch grains applied to two lithic assemblages associated to plant processing. First, a set of protocols for the analysis of starch grains was established. Then, a reference collection of important plants from the region was assembled. This reference collection made possible to contrast archaeological starch grains with the ones obtained from known plants. The analyzed archaeological tools were inserted within three temporal phases for each archaeological site, which allowed us to address diachronically shifts in production and use (i.e., subsistence, medicinal, ritual) of plants. The obtained results suggest that what we know as the La Hueca culture of the Antilles was initially the product of human movements that started around 500 BC, from the territories of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and lowland Ecuador. The initial adaptive strategy of the Huecoid inhabitants of Vieques consisted on the application of a continental (isthmo-colombian) agroeconomic system, in which plants such as manioc, maize, sweet potato, and yautía, among others, were highly important not only as foodstuffs, but also as cultured objects employed for dealing with their new landscapes. In that same light, the differential use of plants after their arrival to Vieques and Puerto Rico shows that the studied groups were adopting and adapting, gradually, Antillean plants into their system of food preferences while continuing to incorporate new continental plants.

This investigation offers the first archaeological interpretations, supported by a systematic archaeobotanical study, of some of the socio-cultural processes that made possible for two Huecoid communities to persist and evolve in a dynamic landscape of human and natural interactions in the northern Antilles.

This paper examines the dietary habits of a Late Chalcolithic-Early Bronze Age (ca. 3200-2800 BCE) population from İkiztepe. Intra-population issues of dietary habits such as possible social divisions (e.g. between sexes, ages, and socioeconomic status) were addressed. The research utilises the results of stable isotope analyses of carbon (δ13C), nitrogen (δ15N) and sulphur (δ34S) from human and animal bone collagen in conjunction with published archaeological data. Analysis of sulphur was conducted to investigate possible marine and freshwater resource consumption. The sample population from İkiztepe consists of 38 adults: 19 males and 19 females. A total of 20 (12 males and 8 females) adult individuals were sampled for the δ34S analysis. For sulphur (δ34S) the range in the sampled adult population is from 6.8‰ to 11.5‰. The respective means for δ13C and δ15N are −20 ± 0.3‰ and 8.9 ± 0.5‰. There is a greater range in the values of δ13C (1.4‰ compared to 0.9‰) and δ15N (2.6‰ compared to 1.9‰) for females, and males predominantly have δ15N values above 9.3‰. The dietary habits of the population were terrestrial C3 based and lacked significant marine or freshwater input despite the proximity of the settlement to the Black Sea and estuary of the Kızılırmak River. Furthermore, males had a slightly greater protein input than females in their diet. Animal management strategies and the exploitation of secondary products are also suggested.

The Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods are poorly understood in northeastern Iberia. Most of the information comes from the sepulchral structures rather than habitat settlements. The high number of individuals usually recovered from this types of collective burial spaces, together with the low number of direct radiocarbon dates available on them, forces us to be cautious and consider all the studied assemblages as belonging to the so-called Late Neolithic-Chalcolithic time period. To evaluate human dietary patterns of the Late Neolithic-Chalcolithic populations from the northeast of Iberia, stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis was carried out on 78 humans and 32 faunal bones from Cova de laGuineu (Font-rubí, Barcelona) and Cueva de Abauntz (Arraitz, Navarra), both of them sepulchral sites. Results show a common dietary pattern in both sites, indicating an homogeneous protein diet based on C3 terrestrial resources and no isotopic evidence of the consumption of C4 plants. Only one individual from Cueva de Abauntz, who directly dates to the first moments of the use of the cave as a burial place, suggests a different protein intake. The inter-population analysis shows a significant difference between both human and faunal δ13C values, suggesting an environmental influence on the isotope values depending on the geographic location. This effect should not be discarded and always assessed with baseline isotopic values in future studies at each area of Iberia and for different chronological moments.

El tema central de este libro es el estudio de arqueológico de la organización geográfica de sociedades cazadoras recolectoras que habitaron ambientes de la costa y el interior de Patagonia meridional. A tal fin hemos realizado trabajos arqueológicos intensivos en el interior del continente, particularmente en el campo volcánico Pali Aike (CVPA), conjuntamente con trabajos previos desarrollados en ámbitos de costa marina. Los trabajos realizados en el marco del Proyecto Magallania en diferentes regiones de Patagonia meridional (Borrero 1998) proveyeron los criterios geográficos para la elección del CVPA como una unidad de análisis adecuada para un tratamiento arqueológico intensivo. Los patrones arqueológicos observados en la escala espacial mayor, que incluye al CVPA, guiaron la definición de las preguntas que discutimos aquí.
Por su posicionamiento, adyacente a la costa septentrional del estrecho de Magallanes y a la costa atlántica, el CVPA es relevante para evaluar problemas geográficos tales como las formas de interacción establecidas por las poblaciones humanas entre los ambientes marinos y del interior del continente. Dado que este campo volcánico se caracteriza por una gran variabilidad geológica, geomorfológica y ecológica, cabe esperar que contenga un amplio espectro de variabilidad espacial en los indicadores arqueológicos de ocupación humana. Al integrar estos espacios del interior con las localidades costeras que los rodean, como Cabo Vírgenes, la desembocadura del río Gallegos y la costa norte del Estrecho, se define una unidad de análisis geográfico de gran amplitud. Consideramos que esta escala de análisis es adecuada para evaluar las propiedades de los rangos de acción y territorios de poblaciones de cazadores recolectores que pueden tener una dimensión espacial comparable.

Teeth and bones of fossil vertebrates can preserve a record of Quaternary terrestrial environments in the form of the isotopic compositions of carbon (13C/12C), nitrogen (15N/14N), and oxygen (18O/16O). These isotopic signatures in teeth and bones have yielded valuable information on the extent of savanna environments under tropical climates, on the ancient levels of aridity, on the spread of dense forests at the beginning of the Holocene, and on the paleodiet of Hominids and their associated fauna.

This is the second volume I have edited on paleoethnobotanical research in the Northeast. The first, published as Current Northeast Paleoethnobotany, New York State Museum Bulletin 494 in 1999, was based on a symposium held at the New York State Museum in Albany as part of the New York Natural History Conference IV in April 1996. This current volume is based on a symposium held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at the 71st annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in April 2006. As I relate in the introductory chapter of this volume, a lot had changed in paleoethnobotany in the Northeast during the 10 years between the symposia. Suffice it to say here that the Northeast is more visible than ever in the paleoethnobotanical literature and that the methods, techniques, and theories used by the discipline are much broader than in 1996.

The symposium brought together many of the same participants in the original symposiumand volume.Most of the symposium participants were able to contribute chapters to the present volume. These include Nancy Asch Sidell, John P. Hart, Mark A. McConaughy, Katy R. Serpa, Elizabeth S. Chilton, Jeffrey Bendremer and Elaine Thomas, Tonya Largy and E. Pierre Morenon, Michael Deal and SaraHalwas, and Jack Rossen. In addition, Iwas able to solicit papers from a number of individuals who had not participated in the symposium, but are doing important paleoethnobotanical research in the Northeast. These are Eleanore A. Reber; Ninian Stein; Tim Messner, Ruth Dickau, and Jeff Harbison; William A. Lovis and G. William Monaghan; and Robert H. Pihl, Stephen G. Monckton, DavidA. Robertson, and Robert F.Williamson. Finally, John Edward Terrell contributed a commentary on the volume that places the practice of paleoethnobotany in the Northeast in a broader perspective. Collectively, the contributions by these authors provide a sense for the breadth of paleoethnobotanical research being carried out in the Northeast. They also provide a benchmark, as did the 1999 volume, by which progress in the field can be measured in the decades to come.

Hoy en día, el campo de la investigación arqueológica recibe cada vez más la inestimable ayuda de la tecnología, pudiendo realizar tareas que hace años le serían impensables, como observar algo con miles de aumentos, saber de qué se alimentaban en el pasado o relacionar genéticamente poblaciones de diferente espacio o tiempo. Sin embargo, es necesario saber cómo hacer uso adecuadamente de esta tecnología, para interpretar el pasado de la manera más acertada posible. En este trabajo se desarrolla una síntesis de las principales técnicas en investigación arqueológica, centrando la atención en el estudio de los restos óseos e ilustrando cada técnica con ejemplos que puedan ayudar a su comprensión.
Palabras clave: huesos humanos, colágeno, ADN, PCR, isótopos, paleodietas, ICP-MS, FRX, SEM

Nowadays, the field of archaeological research receives increasingly the priceless help of the technology, being able to solve tasks in a manner which would seem unthinkable years ago, as watching something thousands of times zoomed in, knowing what did the people from the past eat or relate genetically populations coming from different ages or locations. However, knowledge of the correct use of this technology is needed, in order to read the past in the most accurate way. On this paper, a synthesis of the main techniques for archaeological research is developed, focusing the attention on the study of skeletal remains and giving examples for the application of each technique to provide its understanding.
Keywords: human bones, collagen, DNA, PCR, isotopes, paleodiets, ICP-MS, XRF, SEM

The Gravettian site of Předmostí I in the central Moravian Plain has yielded a rich and diverse large mammal fauna dated around 25-27,000 14C years BP (ca. 29,500–31,500 cal BP). This fauna includes numerous carnivores (cave lion, wolf, brown bear, polar fox, wolverine) and herbivores (reindeer, large bovine, red deer, muskox, horse, woolly rhinoceros, woolly mammoth) whose trophic position could be reconstructed using stable isotopic tracking (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S) of bone collagen (n=63). Among large canids, two morphotypes, “Pleistocene wolves” and “Palaeolithic dogs”, were considered, and two human bones attributed to the Gravettian assemblage of Předmostí I were also sampled. The trophic system around the Gravettian settlement of Předmostí I showed the typical niche partitioning among herbivores and carnivores seen in other mammoth-steppe contexts. The contribution of the analyzed prey species to the diet of the predators, including humans, was evaluated using a Bayesian mixing model (SIAR). Lions included great amounts of reindeer/muskox and possibly bison in their diet, while Pleistocene wolves were more focused on horse and possibly mammoth. Strong reliance on mammoth meat was found for the human of the site, similarly to previously analyzed individuals from other Gravettian sites in Moravia. Interestingly, the large canids interpreted as “Palaeolithic dogs” had a high proportion of reindeer/muskox in their diet, while consumption of mammoth would be expected from the availability of this prey especially in case of close interaction with humans. The peculiar isotopic composition of the Palaeolithic dogs of Předmostí I may indicate some control of their dietary intake by Gravettian people, who could have use them more for transportation than hunting purpose.

ABSTRACT: Analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes from soft or mineralized tissues is a direct and widely used
technique for modeling diets. In addition to its continued role in paleodiet analysis, stable isotope analysis is now
contributing to studies of physiology, disease, and nutrition in archaeological and living human populations. In humans
and other animals, dietary uptake and distribution of carbon and nitrogen among mineralized and soft tissue is carried
out with varying efficiency due to factors of internal biology. Human pathophysiologies may lead to pathology-influenced
isotopic fractionation that can be exploited to understand not just skeletal health and diet, but physiological
health and nutrition. This study reviews examples from human biology, non-human animal ecology, biomedicine, and
bioarchaeology demonstrating how stable isotope analyses are usefully applied to the study of physiological adaptation
and adaptability. Suggestions are made for future directions in applying stable isotope analysis to the study of nutritional
stress, disease, and growth and development in living and past human populations.

Analyses of faunal remains from archaeological excavations and historical documents indicate that the protein component of colonial South Australian diets was dominated by meat (beef and mutton) and marine foods (fish and shellfish). Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of human bone collagen is employed to determine the relative proportions of terrestrial versus marine protein in the diets of a mid-late 19th century working class Anglican community in Adelaide, South Australia. The bone collagen isotope values for St Mary's cemetery population indicate that the average protein component of the adult diet consisted of approximately 60% terrestrial meat (e.g. beef, mutton), 32% seafood (e.g. fish, shellfish), and 8% terrestrial vegetation (e.g. wheat, barley). On average, adults in the sample had similar diets in relation to protein composition. More positive stable carbon (+ 0.3 ‰) and nitrogen (+ 0.5 ‰)  isotope values in males suggest that they ingested greater quantities of seafood than did  females, but the difference was small, i.e. only 3-5% more seafood. Elevated nitrogen isotope values (+ 1.7 ‰) in infants relative to adult females suggest that breast milk was a principal component of the infant diets.