A calf for all seasons? The potential of stable isotope analysis to investigate prehistoric husbandry practices

Prehistoric animal use on the Great Hungarian Plain: A synthesis of isotope and residue analyses from the Neolithic and Copper Age

“…Sequential sampling of 87 Sr/ 86 Sr and d 18 O values from the molars of livestock has been used to study seasonal herd mobility and animal exchange patterns (i.e., Balasse et al, 2002;Bentley and Knipper, 2005;Bocherens et al, 2001;Mashkour, 2003;Viner et al, 2010). Studies of d 13 C and d 15 N values from animal bone collagen have been used to characterize grazing and foddering strategies (i.e., Atahan et al, 2011;Oelze et al, 2011;Towers et al, 2011).…”

Calving seasonality at Pool, Orkney during the first millennium AD: an investigation using intra-tooth isotope ratio analysis of cattle molar enamel

“…the distribution of births throughout the year, and economic focus. For economies focussed on the year-round production of fresh milk as a staple food product, it has been postulated that multiple-season calving would have been necessary (Towers et al 2011;Balasse et al 2012a;Gron et al 2015). In contrast, a strategy of singleseason calving, probably in spring, may have been favoured for meat-based economies or economies focussed on storable milk products.…”

“…Increasingly, birth seasonality of domestic herbivores has been investigated using intra-tooth isotope ratio analysis of molar enamel (e.g. Balasse et al 2003;Balasse and Tresset 2007;Blaise and Balasse 2011;Towers et al 2011;Balasse et al 2012a;Balasse et al 2012b;Tornero et al 2013;Towers et al 2014;Buchan et al 2015;Gron et al 2015).…”

“…Increasingly, birth seasonality of domestic herbivores has been investigated using intra-tooth isotope ratio analysis of molar enamel (e.g. Balasse et al 2003;Balasse and Tresset 2007;Blaise and Balasse 2011;Towers et al 2011;Balasse et al 2012a;Balasse et al 2012b;Tornero et al 2013;Towers et al 2014;Buchan et al 2015;Gron et al 2015).Each of the aforementioned techniques to identify prehistoric dairying has its limitations: faunal remains may be misinterpreted due to equifinality (Halstead 1998), potentially relevant to both mortality profiles and birth seasonality estimations, whilst neither lipid nor protein analyses provide information on the intensity of milk production and, consequently, its significance to ancient economies. However, a multi-2 proxy approach that combines evidence from a range of different techniques has the potential to produce a more accurate and nuanced understanding of the economic basis of a prehistoric site or, at the very least, will act to generate a fresh series of archaeological questions, thus contributing to the debate on dairying in the past.…”

Stable-Isotope Bone Chemistry and Human/Animal Interactions in Historical Archaeology

“…For instance, stable carbon-, nitrogen-, and sulfurisotope analyses of cod bone collagen have been used to reconstruct the expansion of the historical European salt-fish trade in the North Atlantic (Barrett et al 2008(Barrett et al , 2011Orton et al 2011;Nehlich, Barrett, and Richards 2013). Stable carbon-and oxygen-isotope analyses of tooth enamel apatite can be used to assess seasonality of birth and slaughter of livestock (Balasse et al 2003;Towers et al 2011;Frémondeau et al 2012). Stable nitrogenisotope analyses on serial sections of tooth dentine collagen can be used to identify livestock weaning ages (Balasse and Tesset 2002).…”