Quantitative diet reconstruction of a Neolithic population using a Bayesian mixing model (FRUITS): The case study of Ostorf (Germany)

Abstract

The Ostorf population apparently adopted elements associated with a Neolithic culture but adapted to available local food resources and implemented a subsistence strategy that involved a large proportion of fish and terrestrial meat consumption. This case study exemplifies the diversity of subsistence strategies followed during the Neolithic. Am J Phys Anthropol 158:325-340, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Using Stable Isotopes and a Bayesian Mixing Model (FRUITS) to Investigate Diet at the Early Neolithic Site of Carding Mill Bay, Scotland

“…The accuracy and reliability of FRUITS has been demonstrated in several past studies (Fernandes et al 2014(Fernandes et al , 2015Sayle et al 2016), however, the application of modeling parameters has always been at the user's discretion. Δ 13 C muscle protein-bone collagen and Δ 15 N muscle protein-bone collagen offset values used here have been specifically calculated from tissue fractions of animals of the same species as those analyzed in the isotope faunal baseline.…”

“…Differences in δ 13 C between muscle tissue and bone collagen are related to physiological differences in the tissue structure: lipids are relatively depleted in 13 C relative to bone collagen and flesh, and flesh is relatively depleted in 13 C compared to bone collagen (Pinnegar and Polunin 1999;Fernandes et al 2015). These offset values may differ between species, so it is important to use appropriate offsets when reconstructing diet using FRUITS.…”

Effectiveness of different pre‐treatments in recovering pre‐burial isotopic ratios of charred plants

“…This includes the reconstruction of past climatic histories and agricultural practices . In addition, the isotopic signatures of edible plants are necessary for defining isotopic baselines in isotope‐based ancient human diet reconstruction studies . Estimates of pre‐charring plant bulk isotopic signals are possible since several experimental studies have quantified the isotopic offsets introduced during the charring process .…”

Shifting weaning practices in Early Neolithic Cis‐Baikal, Siberia: New insights from stable isotope analysis of molar micro‐samples

“…For example, δ 15 N and δ 13 C collagen values reflect the protein component of the diet more strongly than the carbohydrate or fat component, whereas δ 13 C apatite values reflect the entire diet; also, fats are heavily depleted in δ 13 C as compared with other tissues of the same animal (Ambrose & Norr, ; Hedges, ; Lee‐Thorp, Sealy, & van der Merwe, ; Tieszen & Fagre, ). Consumption of fat‐rich or fat‐poor portions of an animal will have different δ 13 C values, as will any foods that included substantial amounts of fat (e.g., pemmican, berries mixed with seal oil [akutaq], and blubber [muktuk]; Griffin, ), potentially impacting efforts at dietary reconstruction (Fernandes, Grootes, Nadeau, & Nehlich, ). Lower ranked foods should still be visible in dietary trends even if fat resources are being conserved and mixed with other foods as the primary protein signal will stem from the lower fat foods.…”

“…Dental data for Neolithic Cis-Baikal populations (Lieverse, Link, Bazaliiskiy, Goriunova, & Weber, 2007;Waters-Rist, Bazaliiskii, Weber, Goriunova, & Katzenberg, 2006) have suggested annual periodicity in stress episodes that fit well with both the changing state of animal health throughout the year, and with ethnographic accounts of seasonal late-winter/early-spring famines (Black-Rogers, 1986;Kuoljok, 1969;Stefansson, 1946;Turner & Davis, 1993 and δ 13 C collagen values reflect the protein component of the diet more strongly than the carbohydrate or fat component, whereas δ 13 C apatite values reflect the entire diet; also, fats are heavily depleted in δ 13 C as compared with other tissues of the same animal (Ambrose & Norr, 1993;Hedges, 2003;Lee-Thorp, Sealy, & van der Merwe, 1989;Tieszen & Fagre, 1993). Consumption of fat-rich or fat-poor portions of an animal will have different δ 13 C values, as will any foods that included substantial amounts of fat (e.g., pemmican, berries mixed with seal oil [akutaq], and blubber [muktuk]; Griffin, 2009), potentially impacting efforts at dietary reconstruction (Fernandes, Grootes, Nadeau, & Nehlich, 2015). Lower ranked foods should still be visible in dietary trends even if fat resources are being conserved and mixed with other foods as the primary protein signal will stem from the lower fat foods.…”