The use of stable isotope ratio analysis to distinguish multiple prey kill events from mass kill events

Modern Wyoming plant and pronghorn isoscapes and their implications for archaeology

“…All sampled pronghorn are males killed in a known hunt area within Wyoming; Fenner (2008) provides additional information on pronghorn sample characteristics. The number of pronghorn isotope ratio samples per hunt area ranged from 1 to 24 (Table 1; see also Supplemental Table S1), with an average of 6.6 samples for carbon and oxygen analyses, and 4.1 samples for strontium analyses.…”

δ13C and δ15N Variability in Modern Guanaco (Lama guanicoe) Assemblages in Southern Patagonia: Implications for Zooarchaeological Studies

“…The standard deviation was used as a measure of variability, and values were scaled based on the adaptation of Equations ( to proposed by this author (Fenner, :708) as follows: where ‘s’ subscript identifies the resulting value scale, ‘m’ subscript identifies the raw value measured of each element, ‘Eg’ (where E stands for element, in this case C or N) represents the average value of the isotope ratio of this element for the group, either a modern assemblage or an attritional group, ‘Rn’ is the range of the element with greater variability of the sample and ‘Re’ is the range of the element in question, considering all the samples. Equation (4) from Fenner (:708) was also adapted for the calculation of the two dimensional Euclidean distances: where ‘Di’ is the two‐dimensional Euclidean distance of individual i. The purpose of these equations is to obtain a measure of variability for each group which facilitates the comparison between them (Fenner, , ).…”

“…Equation (4) from Fenner (:708) was also adapted for the calculation of the two dimensional Euclidean distances: where ‘Di’ is the two‐dimensional Euclidean distance of individual i. The purpose of these equations is to obtain a measure of variability for each group which facilitates the comparison between them (Fenner, , ).…”

“…Stable isotope studies in archaeology have diversified, transcending the paleodietary analysis of human remains and incorporating, among other issues, those specifically related to the zooarchaeological record (Burton et al ., ; Balasse & Tresset, ; Hughes, ; Ugan & Coltrain, ; Szpak et al ., ). Different hunting strategies used by human populations have been studied in order to differentiate between individual hunt and mass kill using stable isotopes analysis (Hoppe, ; Widga, ; Fenner, , ). These studies are based on the single assumption that the isotopic variability of an archaeofaunal assemblage from multiple populations and different hunting events should be greater than that resulting from an equal number of individuals coming from a single population in one hunting event (Hoppe, :131; Fenner, :704).…”

“…Different hunting strategies used by human populations have been studied in order to differentiate between individual hunt and mass kill using stable isotopes analysis (Hoppe, ; Widga, ; Fenner, , ). These studies are based on the single assumption that the isotopic variability of an archaeofaunal assemblage from multiple populations and different hunting events should be greater than that resulting from an equal number of individuals coming from a single population in one hunting event (Hoppe, :131; Fenner, :704). This assumption of lower variability is founded on the idea that individuals from the same population of a gregarious species share a common history of habits and foraging.…”