Abstract:Relatively high 15N abundances in bone collagen of early anatomically modern humans in Europe have often been interpreted as a specific consumption of freshwater resources, even if mammoth is an alternative high 15N prey. At Buran-Kaya III, access to associated fauna in a secured archaeological context and application of recently developed isotopic analyses of individuals amino acids offer the opportunity to further examine this hypothesis. The site of Buran-Kaya III is located in south Crimea and has provided… Show more
“…2). This indicates that they are likely to have consumed small mammals such as hare, which have low δ 15 N values (Mezhyrich hare: −21.0 and −19.7‰ for δ 13 C, +1.6 and +2.0‰ for δ 15 N), which is consistent with other contexts where small game were targeted by small canids (e.g., Drucker et al, 2017). Two additional data from Buzhanka 2, from one mammoth (δ 13 C=−20.6‰, δ 15 N=+5.2‰) and one large canid (δ 13 C=−18.7‰, δ 15 N=+7.8‰), were consistent with the results obtained at Mezhyrich.Figure 2(color online) Measured δ 13 C and δ 15 N values on bone collagen of mammoth, horse, hare, large canid, and fox from Mezhyrich (M) and Buzhanka 2 (B).…”
Higher δ15N values in bone collagen of mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) compared with coeval large herbivores is a classic trait of the mammoth steppe. An exception applies to the Epigravettian site of Mezhyrich (ca. 18–17.4 ka cal BP) in the central East European plains, where mammoth bones have δ15N values equivalent to or in a lower range than those of horse specimens (Equus sp.). We expanded our preliminary dataset to a larger sampling size of mammoth, other large herbivores, and carnivores from contemporaneous and nearby sites of Buzhanka 2, Eliseevichi, and Yudinovo. The unusual low mammoth δ15N values were confirmed at Buzhanka 2 and for some specimens from Eliseevichi, while most individuals from Yudinovo displayed the expected high δ15N values, meaning similar to those of the large canids. The possibility of a contrast in migration pattern is not supported since the δ34S values, a marker of mobility, do not correlate with the δ15N values of mammoth bone collagen. No clear chronological tendency could be revealed, at least not at the scale of radiocarbon dating. The low range in δ15N values is likely to reflect a change in the specific niche of the mammoth in the southern part of its distribution.
“…2). This indicates that they are likely to have consumed small mammals such as hare, which have low δ 15 N values (Mezhyrich hare: −21.0 and −19.7‰ for δ 13 C, +1.6 and +2.0‰ for δ 15 N), which is consistent with other contexts where small game were targeted by small canids (e.g., Drucker et al, 2017). Two additional data from Buzhanka 2, from one mammoth (δ 13 C=−20.6‰, δ 15 N=+5.2‰) and one large canid (δ 13 C=−18.7‰, δ 15 N=+7.8‰), were consistent with the results obtained at Mezhyrich.Figure 2(color online) Measured δ 13 C and δ 15 N values on bone collagen of mammoth, horse, hare, large canid, and fox from Mezhyrich (M) and Buzhanka 2 (B).…”
Higher δ15N values in bone collagen of mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) compared with coeval large herbivores is a classic trait of the mammoth steppe. An exception applies to the Epigravettian site of Mezhyrich (ca. 18–17.4 ka cal BP) in the central East European plains, where mammoth bones have δ15N values equivalent to or in a lower range than those of horse specimens (Equus sp.). We expanded our preliminary dataset to a larger sampling size of mammoth, other large herbivores, and carnivores from contemporaneous and nearby sites of Buzhanka 2, Eliseevichi, and Yudinovo. The unusual low mammoth δ15N values were confirmed at Buzhanka 2 and for some specimens from Eliseevichi, while most individuals from Yudinovo displayed the expected high δ15N values, meaning similar to those of the large canids. The possibility of a contrast in migration pattern is not supported since the δ34S values, a marker of mobility, do not correlate with the δ15N values of mammoth bone collagen. No clear chronological tendency could be revealed, at least not at the scale of radiocarbon dating. The low range in δ15N values is likely to reflect a change in the specific niche of the mammoth in the southern part of its distribution.
“…As shown in Fig. 2, δ 15 N Glx and δ 15 N Phe values for some individuals, especially the ones with high bulk δ 15 N values, overlap with those of strictly herbivorous species, such as late Pleistocene mammoths from other regions, suggesting that a purely herbivorous species could exhibit such carbon and nitrogen isotopic values of bulk collagen in this palaeoenvironmental context 57,58 .…”
Heavy reliance on plants is rare in carnivora and mostly limited to relatively small species in subtropical settings. The feeding behaviors of extinct cave bears living during Pleistocene cold periods at middle latitudes have been intensely studied using various approaches including isotopic analyses of fossil collagen. In contrast to cave bears from all other regions in Europe, some individuals from Romania show exceptionally high δ 15 n values that might be indicative of meat consumption. Herbivory on plants with high δ 15 N values cannot be ruled out based on this method, however. Here we apply an approach using the δ 15 N values of individual amino acids from collagen that offsets the baseline δ 15 n variation among environments. the analysis yielded strong signals of reliance on plants for Romanian cave bears based on the δ 15 n values of glutamate and phenylalanine. these results could suggest that the high variability in bulk collagen δ 15 N values observed among cave bears in Romania reflects niche partitioning but in a general trophic context of herbivory. Bears represent the largest terrestrial members within the Carnivora alive today and the vast majority of them have carnivorous or omnivorous feeding habits. Until around 25,000 years ago, the coldest period in the Pleistocene, additional, now extinct bear species were living 1-4 , among which the so-called cave bears, a very large type of bear that formed the sister lineage of extant brown bears and polar bears (e.g., ref. 5). The paradox of the cave bear is that their diet has been said to be herbivorous despite their large body sizes while extant herbivorous Carnivora species are smaller 6,7. After their divergence from the brown bear lineage 1.2-1.6 million years ago, cave bear populations showed substantial morphological and genetic variability and multiple forms have been recognized 8 , although their taxonomic status and the relationships among them continue to be debated 9. The possible causes of the extinction of these bears are also intensively debated, involving climate change, human impacts, and (lack of) flexibility in feeding behavior 10-15. Understanding cave bear feeding behavior is therefore important as it might give insights into the extinction of this species, and also it could be relevant for the conservation of extant, herbivorous carnivoran species that are under threat of extinction (e.g., binturong, red panda, giant panda 16,17). More recent studies have shown mixed results based on different lines of evidence including anatomical properties like craniodental morphologies, tooth wear analyses, mortality patterns (e.g., sex ratio), etc. wherein the conclusions were highly context dependent and differed by sample-sets 18-23. This is also the case for stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses (δ 13 C and δ 15 N) on collagen extracted from bone/teeth 24-31. Relatively low δ 15 N values of most of these bears so far indicate their highly-plant-dependent feeding habits with possible exceptions for some groups in today's Romania tha...
“…Our results show that the two taxa were not processed in the same way, and that the human skulls were intentionally selected in association with post-mortem treatments of the dead [43,76]. Consequently, the hypothesis of dietary [72]. The values are given in cannibalism (as defined by Villa and collaborators [77]) is not supported by the data from Buran-Kaya III.…”
Section: Anthropic Modificationsmentioning
confidence: 71%
“…The isotopic analyses of bone collagen from the human individuals revealed a diet mainly based on terrestrial resources with a preponderant role of mammoth meat in the protein intake ( Figure 6), which contrasts with the zooarchaeological record [72]. Saiga antelope was found to be the dominant species in the mammalian assemblage at the site, while mammoth is only represented by one ornament at this site, which was dedicated to butchery activities and saiga antelope hunting over short periods of time [42].…”
Section: Reconstruction Of the Human Dietmentioning
The arrival of modern humans into Europe, their dispersal and their potential interactions with Neanderthals are still in debate. Whereas the first appearance of anatomically modern humans in Western Europe seems to be well understood, the situation is quite different for Eastern Europe, where data are more scarce. The Buran-Kaya III site in Crimea is of key importance to understand the colonization of Europe by anatomically modern humans and their potential contemporaneity with the last Neanderthal occupations. The new radiocarbon dated sequence shows that no Neanderthal settlement existed after 39 ka cal BP and casts doubt on the survival, as previously proposed, of Neanderthal refuge zones in Crimea 28 ka BP ago (34-32 ka cal BP). The human remains from Buran-Kaya III, directly dated to 32450 +250/-230 BP (layer 6-2) and 31900+/-220 BP (layer 6-1) (37.1-35.7 ka cal BP and 36.3-35.2 cal BP respectively), represent some of the oldest evidence of anatomically modern humans in Europe in a unique welldocumented archaeological context (Gravettian). Furthermore, the specimens from layer 6-1 represent the oldest Upper Palaeolithic modern humans from Eastern Europe with evidence of post-mortem treatment of the dead.
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