Seasonality and season of birth of modern and late Neolithic sheep from south-eastern France using tooth enamel δ18O analysis

Blaise, Émilie; Balasse, Marie

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.07.007

Cited by 74 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(24 reference statements)

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“…In sheep, these include the Carmejane (CAR) reference set for late winter and late summer births (Blaise and Balasse, 2011) and the Rousay (ROU) reference set for mid-spring births (Balasse et al, 2012b). Analyses are conducted on the second (M2) and the third molars (M3).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Animal Board Invited Review: Sheep birth distribution in past herds: a review for prehistoric Europe (6th to 3rd millennia BC)

Balasse

Tresset

Bălășescu³

et al. 2017

Animal

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In temperate latitudes sheep have a seasonal reproductive behaviour, which imposes strong constraints on husbandry in terms of work organization and availability of animal products. During the last 50 years, researchers have focused on understanding the mechanisms driving small ruminants' reproduction cycles and finding ways to control them. This characteristic is inherited from their wild ancestor. However, the history of its evolution over the 10 millennia that separates present day European sheep from their Near Eastern ancestors' remains to be written. This perspective echoes archaeologists' current attempts at reconstructing ancient pastoral societies' socio-economical organization. Information related to birth seasonality may be retrieved directly from archaeological sheep teeth. The methodology consists of reconstructing the seasonal cycle record in sheep molars, through sequential analysis of the stable oxygen isotope composition (δ 18 O) of enamel. Because the timing of tooth development is fixed within a species, inter-individual variability in this parameter reflects birth seasonality. A review of the data obtained from 10 European archaeological sites dated from the 6th to the 3rd millennia BC is provided. The results demonstrate a restricted breeding season for sheep: births occurred over a period of 3 to 4 months, from late winter to early summer at latitudes 43°N to 48°N, while a later onset was observed at a higher latitude (59°N). All conclusions concurred with currently held expectations based on present day sheep physiology, which, aside from the historical significance, contributes to the reinforcing of the methodological basis of the approach. Further study in this area will permit regional variability attributable to technical choices, within global schemes, to be fully reported.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The CAR is composed of five M2s from Préalpes du Sud ewes raised on an experimental farm in southern France (Digne, Alpes de Haute Provence, Figure 2). They provide references for late January/ early February births and September births (Blaise and Balasse, 2011). …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Animal Board Invited Review: Sheep birth distribution in past herds: a review for prehistoric Europe (6th to 3rd millennia BC)

Balasse

Tresset

Bălășescu³

et al. 2017

Animal

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“…A par tic u larly prom is ing ap proach is to measure intra-tooth vari a tion (Ballase, 2003;Blaise and Balasse, 2011;Stevens et al, 2011), be cause teeth ac cu mu late a sequence of sig nif i cant iso to pic in for ma tion cov er ing the short time of enamel bioapatite pro gres sive for ma tion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The iso to pic anal y sis of enamel has been used to study sea sonal di etary hab its of both mod ern and ar chae o log i cal fauna (Fricke and O'Neil, 1996;Stu art-Wil liams and Schwarcz, 1997;Fricke et al, 1998;Balasse, 2003;Blaise and Balasse, 2011;Stevens et al, 2011), how ever, se quen tial intra-tooth isoto pic vari a tion has re ceived lit tle at ten tion in the stud ies of archae o log i cal hu man re mains.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More over, the ox y gen iso tope com po si tion of enamel re mains fixed (i.e. enamel is no lon ger me tab o lized by the body), pro vid ing a nearly con tin u ous sta ble iso tope re cord that may cover a pe riod from months to years and that can be re tained for thou sands of years af ter fossil iza tion (Kohn and Cerling, 2002).The iso to pic anal y sis of enamel has been used to study sea sonal di etary hab its of both mod ern and ar chae o log i cal fauna (Fricke and O'Neil, 1996;Stu art-Wil liams and Schwarcz, 1997;Fricke et al, 1998;Balasse, 2003;Blaise and Balasse, 2011;Stevens et al, 2011), how ever, se quen tial intra-tooth isoto pic vari a tion has re ceived lit tle at ten tion in the stud ies of archae o log i cal hu man re mains.The ox y gen iso to pic com po si tion of hu man bioapatite is related to the iso to pic com po si tion of lo cal drink ing wa ter (Longinelli, 1984;Luz et al, 1984). In most lo ca tions, avail abil ity of po - Re con struct ing sea son al ity us ing d 18 O in in cre men tal lay ers of hu man enamel...…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reconstructing seasonality using d18O in incremental layers of human enamel: a test of the analytical protocol developed for SHRIMP IIe/MC ion microprobe

Krzemińska

Sołtysiak

Czupyt

2017

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Re con struct ing sea son al ity us ing d 18 O in in cre men tal lay ers of hu man enamel: a test of the an a lyt i cal pro to col de vel oped for SHRIMP IIe/MC ion microprobe Ewa A num ber of re cent stud ies deal ing with palaeoclimate and en vi ron men tal re con struc tion in clude the mea sure ment of ox ygen iso tope com po si tion of mam ma lian teeth. Some of them ana lyse a tem po ral se quence of the changes re corded in bioapatite from enamel lay ers rep re sent ing the whole pe riod of tooth de vel op ment. Enamel sam ples dis play large intra-tooth d 18 O vari a tions that may re flect a sea sonal fluc tu a tion in the d 18 O of lo cal palaeoclimate pa ram e ters. The pres ent pa per provides an ef fec tive an a lyt i cal pro to col for se quen tial d 18 O anal y sis of hu man teeth us ing SHRIMP IIe/MC ion microprobe. It is pos si ble to fol low the in ner enamel layer along enamel-dentine junc tion on a high spa tial scale in a range about 0.02 mm of spot di am e ter and 0.12-0.14 mm of the dis tance be tween spots. Us ing the meth od ol ogy de scribed herein, we can achieve an ex ter nal pre ci sion for d 18 O anal y sis <0.2‰ (1s). The num ber of 60 to 90 sin gle anal y ses cov er ing the enamel layer between the incisal and api cal ends is enough to ob tain tem po ral res o lu tion of less than one month and to doc u ment pre cisely sea sonal fluc tu a tion caused by lo cal en vi ron men tal and cli mate fac tors. The meth od ol ogy of d 18 O in situ mea sure ments has been tested on hu man teeth from Tell Majnuna, a 4th mil len nium BCE cem e tery in North ern Mes o po ta mia, which is a rel atively arid area with high sea sonal dif fer ences in pre cip i ta tion and tem per a ture. Ob served pat tern of d 18 O vari a tions is consis tent with ex pected sea sonal fluc tu a tions, al though the over all ef fect is blurred by some in er tia in the enamel mat u ra tion.Key words: palaeoclimate, bioapatite, hu man teeth, se quen tial microsampling, Mid dle East, Mes o po ta mia. INTRODUCTIONOx y gen iso tope anal y sis of den tal enamel is a pow er ful tool for palaeo bio logi cal and ar chae o log i cal stud ies as an in di ca tor of the pa ram e ters of phys i ol ogy, nat u ral en vi ron ment and hab itat pref er ences. A par tic u larly prom is ing ap proach is to measure intra-tooth vari a tion (Ballase, 2003;Blaise and Balasse, 2011;Stevens et al., 2011), be cause teeth ac cu mu late a sequence of sig nif i cant iso to pic in for ma tion cov er ing the short time of enamel bioapatite pro gres sive for ma tion.The ox y gen iso tope in ves ti ga tions of mam ma lian den tal enamel are based on a few gen eral as sump tions that:-the tis sues of or gan ism iso to pi cally equil i brated with their en vi ron ment will re flect the lo cal en vi ron men tal oxy gen ra tio; -iso to pic sig na ture of skel e tal tis sues is di rectly re lated to that of the lo cal drink ing wa ter; -bioapatite, the main com po nent of teeth, is rel a tively most re sis tant to diagenetic pro cesses and pre serves it...

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Oxygen isotope analysis of human bone phosphate evidences weaning age in archaeological populations

Britton

Fuller

Tütken

et al. 2015

American J Phys Anthropol

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Here we report bone phosphate oxygen (δ(18)Op) values from perinates/neonates and infants (<3.5 years; n = 32); children (4-12 years; n = 12); unsexed juveniles (16-18 years; n = 2); and adult bones (n = 17) from Wharram Percy, North Yorkshire, England, in order to explore the potential of this method to investigate patterns of past breastfeeding and weaning. In prior studies, δ(15)N and δ(13)C analyses of bone collagen have been utilized to explore weaning age in this large and well-studied assemblage, rendering this material highly appropriate for the testing and development of this alternative method targeting the inorganic phase of bone. Data produced reveal (18)O-enrichment in the youngest perinatal/neonatal and infant samples, and an association between age and bone δ(18)Op (and previously-published δ(15)N values), with high values in both these isotope systems likely due to breastfeeding. After the age of 2-3 years, δ(18)Op values are lower, and all children between the ages of 4 and 12, along with the vast majority of sub-adults and adults sampled (aged 16 to >50 years), have δ(18)Op values consistent with the consumption of local modern drinking water. The implications of this study for the reconstruction of weaning practices in archaeological populations are discussed, including variations observed with bone δ(15)Ncoll and δ(18)Op co-analysis and the influence of culturally-modified drinking water and seasonality. The use of this method to explore human mobility and palaeoclimatic conditions are also discussed with reference to the data presented.

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Seasonality and season of birth of modern and late Neolithic sheep from south-eastern France using tooth enamel δ18O analysis

Cited by 74 publications

References 28 publications

Animal Board Invited Review: Sheep birth distribution in past herds: a review for prehistoric Europe (6th to 3rd millennia BC)

Animal Board Invited Review: Sheep birth distribution in past herds: a review for prehistoric Europe (6th to 3rd millennia BC)

Reconstructing seasonality using d18O in incremental layers of human enamel: a test of the analytical protocol developed for SHRIMP IIe/MC ion microprobe

Oxygen isotope analysis of human bone phosphate evidences weaning age in archaeological populations

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