Isotopic Analysis of Faunal Material from South Uist, Western Isles, Scotland

Abstract

-This paper reports on the results from stable isotope analysis of faunal bone collagen from a number of Iron Age and later sites on the island of South Uist, in the Western Isles, Scotland. This preliminary investigation into the isotopic signatures of the fauna is part of a larger project to model the interaction between humans, animals, and the broader environment in the Western Isles. The results demonstrate that the island fauna data fall within the range of expected results for the UK, with the terrestrial herbivorous diets of cattle and sheep confi rmed. The isotopic composition for pigs suggests that some of these animals had an omnivorous diet, whilst a single red deer value might be suggestive of the consumption of marine foods, such as by grazing on seaweed. However, further analysis is needed in order to verify this anomalous isotopic ratio.

Fallow deer (Dama dama dama) management in Roman South-East Britain

“…Although Fishbourne is approximately 6km from the coast in the modern day, in the Roman period the shore would have been far closer. Seaweed could have been exploited, but this would have also elevated δ 13 C values (Balasse et al 2005;Mulville et al 2009) and can therefore be discounted. However, even now the remains of the palace are less than 200 metres away from an area of salt marsh.…”

New evidence for the establishment and management of the European fallow deer (Dama dama dama) in Roman Britain

“…Similarly while this paper presents the entire dataset for fallow deer carbon and nitrogen isotopes, large-scale studies have been undertaken for both modern and archaeological red deer (e.g. Drucker et al, 2003;Stevens et al, 2006;Mulville et al, 2009). But the very fact that fallow deer are so closely associated with human activity makes them a genuinely worthwhile topic of investigation, with potential to provide cultural data of the highest relevance and significance for a range of disciplines and audiences.…”

“…(For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article). in Kent, shown against data for archaeological Dama specimens from Belgium (Bocherens et al, 1999), modern red deer (Stevens et al, 2006, data corrected for 'fossil fuel effect') and archaeological red deer (ORADS, Mulville et al, 2009;Hedges et al, 2005., Stevens unpublished data and Drucker et al, 2003). Error bars ¼ SD.…”

“…5) shows the relationship among the haplotypes. Little (Bocherens et al, 1999), modern red deer (highlighted in green e Stevens et al, 2006, data corrected for 'fossil-fuel effect') and archaeological red deer (stippled section, from ORADS, Mulville et al, 2009;Hedges et al, 2005., Stevens unpublished data). Error bars ¼ SD.…”

“…A substantial dataset of both d 13 C and d 15 N values were derived from a study of archaeological red deer from the Hebrides (Mulville et al, 2009) with additional values obtained from Hedges et al, (2005) and Stevens (unpublished data). Stevens et al (2006) provided a large set of modern red deer data which have been corrected for the 'fossil-fuel effect' (Friedli et al, 1986), rendering them comparable with the archaeological values.…”