Stable-Carbon Isotope Ratios as a Measure of Marine Versus Terrestrial Protein in Ancient Diets

Chisholm, Brian; Nelson, D. E.; Schwarcz, Henry P.

doi:10.1126/science.216.4550.1131

Cited by 610 publications

(464 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The resulting dates (Table 1 more positive than the Santa Maira herbivore mean value (3.7&), consistent with these species being a trophic level above the herbivores at the site (De Niro and Epstein, 1981;Minagawa and Wada, 1984). The fish (n ¼ 2) d 13 C mean value is À15.2& and its d 15 N mean value is 8.5&, which is low for purely marine fish (Chisholm et al, 1982;Schoeninger and De Niro, 1984) but could be result of the lifecycle of the species sampled, Sparidae and Mugillidae, which live for part of their life in rivers or estuaries. The Santa Maira humans group tightly together, as observed in Fig.…”

Section: Santa Maira and Penya Del Comptador Isotope Datamentioning

confidence: 51%

“…Typically, a marine human value of around À10 to À12& d 13 C is considered to represent a 100% marine diet (Chisholm et al, 1982;Schoeninger and De Niro, 1984). However, the published prehistoric fish remains from the Western Mediterranean are more negative than expected, with highly ranging d 13 C values from À8 to À16&.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This unusual range of isotopic values could be explained by the variety of foods (eggs, invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, fish, small mammals) consumed by modern foxes and lynxes within any particular ecosystem (Fedriani, 1996(Fedriani, , 1997Fernández and Ruiz, 2005;Guitian and Bermejo, 1989). values indicate that the diet was mainly based on C 3 terrestrial resources, but also suggest that a small amount of marine food was possibly consumed by all the population (Chisholm et al, 1982;Schoeninger and De Niro, 1984), including two individuals (S-EVA 9089 and 9090) that might have consumed it on a more regular basis than the others. They also situate the humans in a higher trophic level than the herbivores (5.5& higher) and within the range of carnivore values.…”

Section: Cingle Del Mas Nou Isotope Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The d 13 C stable isotope ratio distinguishes the consumption of terrestrial ( 13 C depleted) and marine ( 13 C enriched) foods (Chisholm et al, 1982). It helps as well to define the input on the diet of C 3 ( 13 C depleted) from C 4 resources ( 13 C enriched) (Van der Merwe and Vogel, 1978).…”

Section: Stable Isotopes and Palaeodietary Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Isotope evidence for the use of marine resources in the Eastern Iberian Mesolithic

Salazar‐García¹,

Aura²,

Olària³

et al. 2014

Journal of Archaeological Science

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a b s t r a c tThere are relatively few coastal Mesolithic sites in the Iberian Mediterranean region, probably due to a number of factors including sea level changes and the disappearance of sites due to agriculture and urbanisation. However, recent excavations have uncovered inland sites that have marine faunal remains (i.e. molluscs and fish) and lithics from the coastal area, which both indicate interactions between the coast and the upland valleys. These inland sites are located at a distance of 30e50 km from today's coastline and are at altitudes higher than 1000 m. We report on additional information on the links between the coast and these inland sites through the use of dietary isotope analysis (carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis) of collagen extracted from human and faunal remains at the sites of Coves de Santa Maira, Penya del Comptador and Cingle del Mas Nou. The results indicate that Mesolithic diet in this region was largely based on C 3 terrestrial resources, but there was measurable evidence of low-level consumption of marine resources at both coastal and inland sites.

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Section: Santa Maira and Penya Del Comptador Isotope Datamentioning

confidence: 51%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cingle Del Mas Nou Isotope Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Stable Isotopes and Palaeodietary Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Isotope evidence for the use of marine resources in the Eastern Iberian Mesolithic

Salazar‐García¹,

Aura²,

Olària³

et al. 2014

Journal of Archaeological Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The relative abundance of the stable carbon isotopes 13 C and 12 C (d 13 C) clearly distinguishes the consumption of terrestrial ( 13 C depleted) and marine foods ( 13 C enriched) (Chisholm et al, 1982). It helps as well to differentiate between the dietary input from C 3 plants or animals that consumed them ( 13 C depleted) and from C 4 resources ( 13 C enriched) (Van der Merwe and Vogel, 1978).…”

Section: Stable Isotopes and Palaeodietary Reconstructionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neanderthal diets in central and southeastern Mediterranean Iberia

Salazar‐García

Power

Serra³

et al. 2013

Quaternary International

111

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a b s t r a c tDuring recent decades, Neanderthal diet has been a major research topic in palaeoanthropology. This has been accelerated by the maturation of different techniques, which have produced a plethora of new information. However, this proliferation of data has led to confusing and contradictory results. Furthermore, most of the ecological dietary studies have been carried out on specimens drawn from different time periods and regions, almost exclusively those characterized by cold, open environmental conditions. Subsistence models based on these fragmentary data have been applied to Neanderthals living in a variety of different regions and environments, even though their dietary strategies may have been as variable as regions they inhabited. In this paper we integrate different dietary approaches (studies of the zooarchaeology, stable isotopes and plant remains) from the central and southeastern Mediterranean coast of Iberia in order to develop a broader and more complex picture of Neanderthal diet in different Mediterranean environmental conditions. Our results suggest that there may have been some minor dietary variation due to climatic or environmental differences, but that Neanderthal diet focussed on large terrestrial game, supplemented by plant foods when these were available.Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. Neanderthal dietary ecologyThe dietary behaviours of Neanderthals and the relationship between their diet and their social organization, technological abilities, and even their eventual disappearance, have been hotly debated in the anthropological literature. Examining the diets of Neanderthals requires the synthesis of data that have been collected by numerous researchers over the last 150 years. In many cases, the differences between Neanderthal and early modern human diets have been emphasized, at the expense of cogent discussion of the variation within each group. Early modern humans lived in a wide variety of environmental contexts and likely pursued a variety of behaviours throughout this range of environments. The exclusively Eurasian distribution of Neanderthals did not include as many environments, but neither was it the exclusively cold Arctic climate that many have supposed it to be. A more detailed examination of the Neanderthal range and the effects of shifting global climates reveals that this group would have been exposed to a diverse range of environments (Hoffecker, 2009;MacDonald et al., 2009). Just as modern human dietary behaviour likely varied with environments, so, too, can we predict that Neanderthals had different diets in different environments.Our understanding of the diets of Neanderthals comes from three main lines of evidence. The first is the study of the human remains themselves, including the isotope signal recorded in their bones, the microwear on their teeth, and how factors of their lifehistory are related to diet. The second line of evidence includes the study of the remains of their food, in the form of animal and plant remains preserved ...

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Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of diet and hair of Gidra-speaking Papuans

Yoshinaga

Minagawa

Suzuki

et al. 1996

Am. J. Phys. Anthropol.

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The carbon and nitrogen stable isotopic composition of the scalp hair and diet of Gidra-speaking people in four villages in Papua New Guinea is presented. The isotopic composition of hair was measured, while that of the diet was estimated from food consumption survey data and the measured isotopic composition and protein and carbohydrate contents of food items. The average isotopic ratios of the hair samples and of the diet varied among the four study villages, which were selected because of their diverse ecological settings. Comparison was made between hair and calculated dietary isotopic compositions. Two of the four diet-hair enrichment values obtained for 13C (+1.8 and 2.2%) were similar to those previously reported (1.4-2.0%), but the other two values (3.7 and 4.8%) were greater than in earlier reports. 15N enrichment was systematically greater (by 1.0%) than reported values (4.3%) except for one village, where a much greater enrichment (6.9%) was found. The factors potentially relevant to these deviations are discussed. Possible errors in estimating the dietary isotopic composition and minor modifications of dietary habits revealed by food consumption surveys could explain most of the discrepancies. However, the great enrichment of 15N found in one of the villages remains unexplained.

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Stable-Carbon Isotope Ratios as a Measure of Marine Versus Terrestrial Protein in Ancient Diets

Cited by 610 publications

References 8 publications

Isotope evidence for the use of marine resources in the Eastern Iberian Mesolithic

Isotope evidence for the use of marine resources in the Eastern Iberian Mesolithic

Neanderthal diets in central and southeastern Mediterranean Iberia

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of diet and hair of Gidra-speaking Papuans

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