Paleodiet

El tema central de este libro es el estudio de arqueológico de la organización geográfica de sociedades cazadoras recolectoras que habitaron ambientes de la costa y el interior de Patagonia meridional. A tal fin hemos realizado trabajos arqueológicos intensivos en el interior del continente, particularmente en el campo volcánico Pali Aike (CVPA), conjuntamente con trabajos previos desarrollados en ámbitos de costa marina. Los trabajos realizados en el marco del Proyecto Magallania en diferentes regiones de Patagonia meridional (Borrero 1998) proveyeron los criterios geográficos para la elección del CVPA como una unidad de análisis adecuada para un tratamiento arqueológico intensivo. Los patrones arqueológicos observados en la escala espacial mayor, que incluye al CVPA, guiaron la definición de las preguntas que discutimos aquí.
Por su posicionamiento, adyacente a la costa septentrional del estrecho de Magallanes y a la costa atlántica, el CVPA es relevante para evaluar problemas geográficos tales como las formas de interacción establecidas por las poblaciones humanas entre los ambientes marinos y del interior del continente. Dado que este campo volcánico se caracteriza por una gran variabilidad geológica, geomorfológica y ecológica, cabe esperar que contenga un amplio espectro de variabilidad espacial en los indicadores arqueológicos de ocupación humana. Al integrar estos espacios del interior con las localidades costeras que los rodean, como Cabo Vírgenes, la desembocadura del río Gallegos y la costa norte del Estrecho, se define una unidad de análisis geográfico de gran amplitud. Consideramos que esta escala de análisis es adecuada para evaluar las propiedades de los rangos de acción y territorios de poblaciones de cazadores recolectores que pueden tener una dimensión espacial comparable.

Neanderthals have been commonly depicted as top predators who met their nutritional needs by focusing entirely on meat. This information mostly derives from faunal assemblage analyses and stable isotope studies: methods that tend to underestimate plant consumption and overestimate the intake of animal proteins. Several studies in fact demonstrate that there is a physiological limit to the amount of animal proteins that can be consumed: exceeding these values causes protein toxicity that can be particularly dangerous to pregnant women and newborns. Consequently, to avoid food poisoning from meat-based diets, Neanderthals must have incorporated alternative food sources in their daily diets, including plant materials as well. Yrbk Phys Anthropol 156:43-71,

Resumen

La presente investigación profundiza en las interrelaciones fitoculturales de dos comunidades Huecoide que se asentaron en las islas de Vieques y Puerto Rico (La Hueca y Punta Candelero) hace aproximadamente 2,300 años. Los objetivos planteados fueron, entre otros: a) caracterizar por primera vez la agroeconomía de estos pueblos y, b) interpretar el desempeño de las plantas como objetos naturales humanizados y utilizados conscientemente durante los procesos de movilidad humana inter-Caribeña. Con la finalidad de comprender las características de los procesos adaptativos Huecoide en los sitios estudiados, se elaboró un marco referencial constituido por la ecología cultural y la fenomenología hermenéutica. Aunque ambos enfoques parecen antagónicos, fue posible conciliar los principales aspectos de ellos que se refieren a las estrategias adaptativas y a los aspectos relacionales que ocurren entre el ente humano, el entorno biofísico y el cultural. La idea de un marco referencial “híbrido” respondió a la búsqueda de un conjunto de interpretaciones arqueológicas que pudiese mostrar el rol dinámico de la agencia humana en los procesos culturales adaptativos de una parte de la historia antigua antillana. Este trabajo es un primer paso al respecto.

Luego de construir las herramientas teóricas, se pudo elaborar un programa de investigación arqueobotánica a partir del estudio de gránulos de almidón aplicado a dos conjuntos de herramientas líticas relacionadas con el procesamiento de plantas. Primeramente, se construyeron varios protocolos de análisis para los almidones y se estableció una colección de referencia moderna de fuentes vegetales importantes para la región. Esta tarea sirvió para contrastar los almidones arqueológicos con los almidones procedentes de plantas conocidas. Las herramientas arqueológicas estudiadas fueron ubicadas en tres fases temporales por cada sitio arqueológico, lo que permitió desarrollar un análisis y discusión diacrónico sobre la producción y uso diferenciado (alimentico, ritual, medicinal) de plantas. Los resultados obtenidos sugieren que lo que conocemos como cultura La Hueca en Las Antillas fue inicialmente el producto de movilizaciones humanas, ocurridas ca. 500 a.C., desde la región que comprende actualmente los territorios de Costa Rica, Panamá, Colombia y las tierras bajas de Ecuador. La estrategia adaptativa inicial de los pobladores Huecoide en Vieques consistió en la aplicación de un sistema agroeconómico conocido por ellos, típicamente continental (itsmo-colombiano), en el cual el uso de la yuca, el maíz, la batata, la yautía y otras plantas más fueron importantes como alimento, pero también como objetos culturizados utilizados para enfrentar los nuevos espacios. Asimismo, el uso diferencial de plantas posterior a su arribo a Vieques y Puerto Rico, muestra que los grupos estudiados fueron adoptando y adecuando, paulatinamente, plantas de origen antillano en su sistema de preferencias, y a la misma vez, siguieron incorporando nuevas plantas continentales.

La investigación realizada ofrece las primeras interpretaciones arqueológicas, apoyadas por un sistemático estudio arqueobotánico, de algunos de los procesos socioculturales que hicieron posible a dos comunidades Huecoide persistir y evolucionar en un dinámico ambiente de interacciones humanas y naturales en el norte de Las Antillas.

Abstract

The present work inquires into the phyto-cultural interrelationships of two Huecoid communities that inhabited Vieques and Puerto Rico (La Hueca and Punta Candelero) around 2300 years ago. The primary objectives of this investigation were, among others: to characterize for the first time the agroeconomy of these communities and to interpret the role of plants as humanized natural objects which were consciously used during the movement of these peoples across the insular Caribbean. With the aim of understanding the characteristics of the adaptive processes of these Huecoid people in these sites, a conceptual framework constituted by a combination of cultural ecology and hermeneutic phenomenology was established. Although both of these approaches seem antagonistic at first glance, it was possible to conciliate their principal premises that make reference to the adaptive strategies and the relational aspects that take place between humans and their biophysical and cultural landscapes. The idea of a “hybrid” conceptual framework responded to the search of archaeological interpretations that could show the dynamic role of human agency in the adaptive cultural processes that took place during this early part of the ancient history of the Antilles.

After articulating the theoretical framework, it was possible to elaborate an investigative archaeobotanical program based on the study of starch grains applied to two lithic assemblages associated to plant processing. First, a set of protocols for the analysis of starch grains was established. Then, a reference collection of important plants from the region was assembled. This reference collection made possible to contrast archaeological starch grains with the ones obtained from known plants. The analyzed archaeological tools were inserted within three temporal phases for each archaeological site, which allowed us to address diachronically shifts in production and use (i.e., subsistence, medicinal, ritual) of plants. The obtained results suggest that what we know as the La Hueca culture of the Antilles was initially the product of human movements that started around 500 BC, from the territories of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and lowland Ecuador. The initial adaptive strategy of the Huecoid inhabitants of Vieques consisted on the application of a continental (isthmo-colombian) agroeconomic system, in which plants such as manioc, maize, sweet potato, and yautía, among others, were highly important not only as foodstuffs, but also as cultured objects employed for dealing with their new landscapes. In that same light, the differential use of plants after their arrival to Vieques and Puerto Rico shows that the studied groups were adopting and adapting, gradually, Antillean plants into their system of food preferences while continuing to incorporate new continental plants.

This investigation offers the first archaeological interpretations, supported by a systematic archaeobotanical study, of some of the socio-cultural processes that made possible for two Huecoid communities to persist and evolve in a dynamic landscape of human and natural interactions in the northern Antilles.

Current knowledge of infant feeding and weaning practices during the Roman period in Egypt is limited to scanty documentary and iconographic evidence. Stable nitrogen and carbon isotope analysis provides another avenue to explore this question. A sample of 49 infant and juvenile human skeletal remains from the Kellis 2 cemetery in the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt, was used to determine patterns of infant feeding and weaning. d15N values indicate that supplementary foods were introduced at around 6 months of age, and that weaning was complete by 3 years of age. By 6 months of age, d13C values become increasingly enriched over adult values, and reach peak enrichment at  approximately 1.5 years of age. Beyond this age, d13C gradually declines to approach adult values. This enrichment in infant d13C values is indicative of consumption of 13C enriched supplementary foods. Based on isotopic study of faunal and botanical remains from the ancient village of Kellis, we conclude that at approximately 6 months of age, infants were fed milk of goat and/or cow.

The objective of this study was to develop, test and evaluate a specifically defined interdisciplinary approach—the human-centred approach—as applied to a case study, Iron Age Öland. Four themes were selected to highlight different aspects of particular interest in Öland: taphonomy, diet, migration, and social organization. The uncremated human skeletal remains from Öland are the basis for this study. Different aspects of the bones, such as spatial distribution and chemical and physical properties, were investigated. The methods used include osteological methods, image-based modelling, isotopic analysis of bone (δ13C and δ15N; 14C) and enamel (87Sr/86Sr, δ18O), statistical modelling, and graph-based network analysis.
The great impact of the choice of methodology in the different papers was apparent in evaluating how the human-centred approach could be practiced.
The concept developed in Paper I, Virtual Taphonomy, provided deeper insight into the specific case study of Öland but also showed the potential of this methodology for archaeology and osteology in general.
The approach to migration in Paper II gave results differing from those in Paper IV. The use of a second isotope (δ18O) in Paper IV showed how some individuals were clearly not from an area close by enough to fit within the proposed areas in Paper II. Paper IV also questioned the definitions of 87Sr/86Sr baseline and the interpretation process for deciding whether an individual is determined as a migrant. While the population level approach to migration in Paper II allowed for a discussion on the mechanisms behind migration, the approach in Paper IV instead gave insight into the nature and expression of migration within Öland’s society.
In Paper III, it was demonstrated that a shift in diet (isotope variation) did not coincide with the relative typological chronology but instead should be studied by more independent chronology (such as 14C). The isotope results for Öland could also be interpreted completely differently today due to new standards for understanding how isotope values relate to human diet.
Paper V showed how a transparent analysis of isotope results, osteological analysis, and archaeological parameters could be used to discuss societal development using graph-based network analysis.
Using the human-centred approach to Iron Age Öland resulted in some new insights and a rethinking of society, particularly regarding diet and migration. The interpretation of the diet isotopes means that the pastoralist subsistence likely transformed the Ölandic landscape much earlier than previously thought. The dietary shift places the start of this in the final two centuries BC, not AD 200. In the Late Iron Age, the migration levels doubled, especially as women were immigrating. The people settling Öland were coming from diverse geographical areas in both periods, with the addition of more distant migrants in the Late period. I argue this is part of a creolization process in Öland in the Late Iron Age, detectable in burial practice and diet. The starting point of this great immigration is difficult to define as uncremated human remains are largely lacking in the period AD 200–700. Around AD 200, there is also a change in social organization indicated through the perceptible use of violence. I interpret this as a society where elders had diminished social power compared to earlier times, and when the increasing military focus throughout Scandinavia was also established in Öland.
In conclusion, the exploration of a human-centred archaeology gave new insights of relevance to archaeology at large, not just Iron Age Öland. In particular, the strong interpretational aspects of isotopes could be demonstrated, as well as the great advantages of applying digital archaeological theory and method to human skeletal remains.

2 RCC Perspectives Volume Editors Michaela Harbeck studied biology, forensic medicine, and biochemistry at the University of Kiel. She received a doctorate in physical anthropology from LMU Munich, where she then worked as an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics. Since 2010 Harbeck has worked as a curator for the Bavarian State Collection of Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy in Munich. She has published numerous articles on applying the methodology of modern natural sciences to research in osteology. Currently, she is using molecular biology and archaeometric analyses of skeletal material to investigate the social structures, the burden of disease, and living conditions of past populations of the early Middle Ages in particular. Heyking applies a broad range of scientific methods to analyze the health of individuals from an urban, late medieval poorhouse. Currently working as a freelance anthropologist, she has published her first results from this research as well as further anthropological analyses of medieval lifestyles. Heiner Schwarzberg studied prehistoric archaeology, prehistoric anthropology, and history of art at the Universities of Halle (Saale), Jena, and Berlin. After working at the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin and the Martin-Luther-University Halle, he took on an assistant professorship at LMU Munich in 2008. He has specialized in the archaeology of Neolithic early farming communities in Europe and Asia Minor. In a Turkish-German joint project funded by the German Research Foundation, Schwarzberg is cooperating with Istanbul University, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and the German Archaeological Institute to excavate the sixth-and seventh-millennium BCE settlement mound of Aşağı Pınar in Eastern Thrace-a key site for Neolithization processes of southeastern Europe. Schwarzberg has published several books and papers on the Early Neolithic and the prehistoric cults and religion of the earliest European farmers. Sickness, Hunger, War, and Religion

ABSTRACT: Analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes from soft or mineralized tissues is a direct and widely used
technique for modeling diets. In addition to its continued role in paleodiet analysis, stable isotope analysis is now
contributing to studies of physiology, disease, and nutrition in archaeological and living human populations. In humans
and other animals, dietary uptake and distribution of carbon and nitrogen among mineralized and soft tissue is carried
out with varying efficiency due to factors of internal biology. Human pathophysiologies may lead to pathology-influenced
isotopic fractionation that can be exploited to understand not just skeletal health and diet, but physiological
health and nutrition. This study reviews examples from human biology, non-human animal ecology, biomedicine, and
bioarchaeology demonstrating how stable isotope analyses are usefully applied to the study of physiological adaptation
and adaptability. Suggestions are made for future directions in applying stable isotope analysis to the study of nutritional
stress, disease, and growth and development in living and past human populations.

This is the second volume I have edited on paleoethnobotanical research in the Northeast. The first, published as Current Northeast Paleoethnobotany, New York State Museum Bulletin 494 in 1999, was based on a symposium held at the New York State Museum in Albany as part of the New York Natural History Conference IV in April 1996. This current volume is based on a symposium held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at the 71st annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in April 2006. As I relate in the introductory chapter of this volume, a lot had changed in paleoethnobotany in the Northeast during the 10 years between the symposia. Suffice it to say here that the Northeast is more visible than ever in the paleoethnobotanical literature and that the methods, techniques, and theories used by the discipline are much broader than in 1996.

The symposium brought together many of the same participants in the original symposiumand volume.Most of the symposium participants were able to contribute chapters to the present volume. These include Nancy Asch Sidell, John P. Hart, Mark A. McConaughy, Katy R. Serpa, Elizabeth S. Chilton, Jeffrey Bendremer and Elaine Thomas, Tonya Largy and E. Pierre Morenon, Michael Deal and SaraHalwas, and Jack Rossen. In addition, Iwas able to solicit papers from a number of individuals who had not participated in the symposium, but are doing important paleoethnobotanical research in the Northeast. These are Eleanore A. Reber; Ninian Stein; Tim Messner, Ruth Dickau, and Jeff Harbison; William A. Lovis and G. William Monaghan; and Robert H. Pihl, Stephen G. Monckton, DavidA. Robertson, and Robert F.Williamson. Finally, John Edward Terrell contributed a commentary on the volume that places the practice of paleoethnobotany in the Northeast in a broader perspective. Collectively, the contributions by these authors provide a sense for the breadth of paleoethnobotanical research being carried out in the Northeast. They also provide a benchmark, as did the 1999 volume, by which progress in the field can be measured in the decades to come.

In this pilot study, stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes from bone collagen and apatite of skeletons from the 11th and 12th century cemetery in Giecz, Poland are interpreted. Isotope values from a small number of fish and animal bones from the same archaeological site are also examined. The goal of this research is to provide preliminary evidence of diet for a group of medieval Polish peasants, with particular emphasis on sex-based differences in diet. Results of isotope analyses suggest diet of this early medieval population was omnivorous and terrestrial-based. Fish bones sampled exhibit low d13C ratios, and in half of the cases are significantly enriched in 15N, indicating they are freshwater species. Human bones do not reflect these signatures, suggesting freshwater fish were not a significant source of dietary protein at Giecz. The 13Ccoll from some human bones is enriched beyond what might be expected from an exclusively C3 diet. Associated mammal bones do not exhibit similarly elevated d13Ccoll ratios, suggesting enrichment among humans is not due to consumption of animals foddered on C4 plants. Two possible sources of 13Ccoll enrichment are marine fish in diet and direct consumption of a C4 plant, such as millet. The d13C values obtained from bone apatite of a small subset of humans suggest that millet contributes to 13Ccoll enrichment, although at least three individuals may have also consumed small amounts of marine fish. Sex-based differences in d15N ratios indicate that men consumed relatively more animal products (meat or dairy) than did women. There is also a correlation between d13Ccoll and d15N values in skeletons of men that is absent in women. These carbon and nitrogen isotope data are the first reported for any Polish population and contribute to a more complete picture of dietary adaptation and social organization in medieval Europe.

This paper presents the results of isotopic analysis for dietary reconstruction of humans and animal remains from several prehistoric (3500–2000 BCE) populations in Anatolia. The investigated sites are İkiztepe (north Anatolia, Samsun region, on the Black Sea coast), Titriş Höyük (south east Anatolia, Urfa region), Bademağacı (south Anatolia, Antalya region), and Bakla Tepe (south west Anatolia, in the İzmir region). This research utilises the results of stable isotope analyses of carbon (δ13C), nitrogen (δ15N), and sulphur (δ34S) in bone collagen from over 200 human and animal samples in conjunction with published archaeological, archaeobotanical, and archaeozoological data (where present) to address this issue. This study, for the first time, has permitted a wider observation of Early Bronze Age dietary habits and subsistence strategies across the region, as well as examining the nature of dietary habits on an intra- and inter-site level, and temporally across the 3rd millennium BC. The results show that during the EBA in Anatolia there was a general degree of homogeneity in dietary habits at an intra- and inter-site and regional level and across the millennium of the EBA with diets being predominantly terrestrial C3 based.

Available online xxx a b s t r a c t During 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.

Este volumen es una guía ilustrada de material microbotánico moderno que sirve como fuente de
consulta para las investigaciones paleoetnobotánicas del Ecuador y de otros países vecinos. El trabajo técnico aquí esbozado se ocupa de la descripción morfométrica general de los almidones modernos extraídos de ciertas plantas silvestres y domésticas siendo, algunas de ellas, recursos
fitoculturales de gran importancia histórica para los habitantes de las tierras altas y bajas del noroeste sudamericano. Los datos reportados pretenden ser un corpus de información, de comparación y de contraste para las investigaciones paleoetnobotánicas formales desarrolladas en áreas geoculturales similares a Ecuador, con las cuales se pueden recuperar almidones antiguos de aquellos objetos arqueológicos directamente relacionados con el procesamiento, con la cocción o con el consumo de plantas almidonosas. Todo estudio de almidones antiguos en el ámbito de la arqueología requiere que previamente se confeccionen colecciones comparativas modernas de plantas almidonosas importantes para la región de interés. Esta guía, que incluye cientos de microfotografías de almidones y de plantas económicas o potencialmente útiles, ayudará a robustecer el proceso de identificación e interpretación de estos restos microbotánicos arqueológicos. Así, las investigaciones paleoetnobotánicas podrán contar con información firme para indagar en el rol que tuvieron algunas plantas del hemisferio en el complejo entramado de evolución sociocultural de nuestros pueblos prehispánicos.

MAESTRÍA EN ANTROPOLOGÍA FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA Y LETRAS-INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES ANTROPOLÓGICAS ESPECIALIDAD: ANTROPOLOGÍA FÍSICA PROCEDENCIA Y DIETA DE UNA MUESTRA ÓSEA DE LA VENTILLA 92-94, TEOTIHUACAN TESIS QUE PARA OPTAR POR EL GRADO DE: MAESTRA EN ANTROPOLOGÍA PRESENTA MARÍA ARNAUD SALAS TUTOR PRINCIPAL: DRA. ABIGAIL MEZA PEÑALOZA INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES ANTROPOLÓGICAS-UNAM. MÉXICO, D.F. AGOSTO 2014 ÍNDICE LISTA DE FIGURAS Y TABLAS INTRODUCCIÓN 1 CAPITULO I: MARCO TEÓRICO 9 1.1 La migración como concepto 9 OBSERVACIONES FINALES 191 APÉNDICE A Imágenes de las muestras tomadas de los individuos 198 pertenecientes al proyecto La Ventilla 92-94, frente 2 y 3 APÉNDICE B Imágenes de las muestras tomadas de los artefactos 206 pertenecientes al proyecto La Ventilla 92-94, frente 2 y 3 BIBLIOGRAFÍA 210

The Gravettian site of Předmostí I in the central Moravian Plain has yielded a rich and diverse large mammal fauna dated around 25-27,000 14C years BP (ca. 29,500–31,500 cal BP). This fauna includes numerous carnivores (cave lion, wolf, brown bear, polar fox, wolverine) and herbivores (reindeer, large bovine, red deer, muskox, horse, woolly rhinoceros, woolly mammoth) whose trophic position could be reconstructed using stable isotopic tracking (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S) of bone collagen (n=63). Among large canids, two morphotypes, “Pleistocene wolves” and “Palaeolithic dogs”, were considered, and two human bones attributed to the Gravettian assemblage of Předmostí I were also sampled. The trophic system around the Gravettian settlement of Předmostí I showed the typical niche partitioning among herbivores and carnivores seen in other mammoth-steppe contexts. The contribution of the analyzed prey species to the diet of the predators, including humans, was evaluated using a Bayesian mixing model (SIAR). Lions included great amounts of reindeer/muskox and possibly bison in their diet, while Pleistocene wolves were more focused on horse and possibly mammoth. Strong reliance on mammoth meat was found for the human of the site, similarly to previously analyzed individuals from other Gravettian sites in Moravia. Interestingly, the large canids interpreted as “Palaeolithic dogs” had a high proportion of reindeer/muskox in their diet, while consumption of mammoth would be expected from the availability of this prey especially in case of close interaction with humans. The peculiar isotopic composition of the Palaeolithic dogs of Předmostí I may indicate some control of their dietary intake by Gravettian people, who could have use them more for transportation than hunting purpose.

Carbon stable isotope ratios (δ13C), measured in human bone collagen (δ13Ccollagen) and bioapatite (δ13Cbioapatite), are commonly used indicators in ancient human diet reconstruction. The underlying assumption is that human tissues broadly reflect the δ13C signal of dietary food sources (δ13Cdiet) plus an isotopic offset. However, interpretation of results may be confounded by the differentiated routing of macronutrients (energy, that is carbohydrates and lipids, and protein) having associated different isotopic signals (δ13Cenergy, δ13Cprotein). Multiple regression analyses were conducted on data from controlled animal feeding experiments compiled by Froehle et al. (J Archaeol Sci 37:2662–2670, 2010). We derived a simple algebraic macronutrient-based model with δ13Cbioapatite = 10.1 + δ13Cdiet (‰) and δ13Ccollagen = 4.8 + 0.74 δ13Cprotein + 0.26 δ13Cenergy (‰). While the established relationship for δ13Cbioapatite is similar to previously known results, the model also suggests that δ13Ccollagen signal contributions originate from surprisingly consistent proportions of protein and energy macronutrients. Given that feeding experiments explore extreme variations in the proportion of diet macronutrients, the applicability of the proposed model and its predictions were tested in a variety of well-known, wild animal and human, natural contexts. Possible biochemical mechanisms explaining these empirical results are discussed.

Hoy en día, el campo de la investigación arqueológica recibe cada vez más la inestimable ayuda de la tecnología, pudiendo realizar tareas que hace años le serían impensables, como observar algo con miles de aumentos, saber de qué se alimentaban en el pasado o relacionar genéticamente poblaciones de diferente espacio o tiempo. Sin embargo, es necesario saber cómo hacer uso adecuadamente de esta tecnología, para interpretar el pasado de la manera más acertada posible. En este trabajo se desarrolla una síntesis de las principales técnicas en investigación arqueológica, centrando la atención en el estudio de los restos óseos e ilustrando cada técnica con ejemplos que puedan ayudar a su comprensión.
Palabras clave: huesos humanos, colágeno, ADN, PCR, isótopos, paleodietas, ICP-MS, FRX, SEM

Nowadays, the field of archaeological research receives increasingly the priceless help of the technology, being able to solve tasks in a manner which would seem unthinkable years ago, as watching something thousands of times zoomed in, knowing what did the people from the past eat or relate genetically populations coming from different ages or locations. However, knowledge of the correct use of this technology is needed, in order to read the past in the most accurate way. On this paper, a synthesis of the main techniques for archaeological research is developed, focusing the attention on the study of skeletal remains and giving examples for the application of each technique to provide its understanding.
Keywords: human bones, collagen, DNA, PCR, isotopes, paleodiets, ICP-MS, XRF, SEM

En la arqueología, el uso de la inferencia directa de aspectos de la organización social a partir del registro mortuorio ha originado polémicas respecto de sus conclusiones. En el caso de la Localidad Arqueológica Río Doncellas, gracias a la ubicuidad de macrorestos de Zea mays, este método llevó a relacionar su producción con su participación en la alimentación humana. En este trabajo proponemos discutir el impacto en la reproducción biológica y social de este cultígeno a partir de una concepción más amplia de consumo, sin relacionarlo necesariamente a la dieta humana cotidiana. Por lo tanto, expondremos resultados del análisis de las relaciones isotópicas del carbono (δ 13 C), tanto en la fracción orgánica como inorgánica del hueso, los cuales hasta el momento se asocian a una dieta caracterizada por recursos con un patrón fotosintético (C 3 ) diferente al que posee el maíz (C 4 ).

The Ertebølle culture is a late Mesolithic hunter-gatherer-fisher culture in southern Scandinavia, northern Germany and Poland. Archaeological finds as well as scientific analyses of humans and their artefacts indicate the great importance of aquatic resources, both marine and freshwater, to Ertebølle subsistence.

In northern Germany, modern freshwater fish samples can have very high apparent radiocarbon ages (up to 3000 years). If such dramatic 'freshwater reservoir effects' also existed during the late Mesolithic, they could lead to artificially old radiocarbon dates for the bones of Ertebølle humans and domestic dogs, and for carbonised food crusts on cooking pots. Conversely, if we can demonstrate radiocarbon age 'offsets' in such samples, we can often attribute them to the exploitation of freshwater food resources.

This article discusses methods of identifying freshwater resources in prehistoric pottery, including radiocarbon reservoir effects. We consider the results of radiocarbon, stable isotope and elemental analyses of food crusts on prehistoric pottery from four sites in the Alster and Trave valleys: Kayhude, Schlamersdorf, Bebensee and Seedorf.

Abstract: The 1st–4th c. AD Wielbark culture of Eastern Europe is relatively understudied bioarchaeologically due to the fragmentary nature of its cemeteries. Here, we report the first stable isotope analysis of Wielbark diet using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope signatures from both collagen and carbonate of 30 individuals from Rogowo, a 2nd c. Wielbark cemetery in North-Central Poland. Diet at Rogowo was primarily based on terrestrial foods and included millet, a C4 plant cultivated by many Slavic populations in Europe. Anadromous fish likely supplemented the diet, which is clarified when considering collagen and carbonate data in tandem. Stable isotope differences between the sexes indicate that men and women may have consumed different foods, although there is a possibility that women immigrated to Rogowo from an isotopically different region of Europe. No significant differences are noted in δ13C or δ15N of women with and without grave goods, suggesting little social differentiation within the Wielbark culture, at least in terms of daily food access. Reconstructing human diet in Europe through stable isotope analysis is problematic because of the relative isotopic homogeneity in this region of the world. This study further demonstrates the utility of using both carbonate and collagen stable isotope data in tandem to reconstruct past European diet.

Evidence for the histories of maize, bean, and squash in New York and the greater northeastern North America has changed dramatically over the past decade. Here I review the new lines of evidence and three models that can lead to better understandings of that new evidence.

Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios in fossil bone collagen have been used as evidence for an increase of diet breadth between Middle Palaeolithic Neanderthals and Early Upper Palaeolithic anatomically modern humans. In this paper, we revisit the rules of palaeodietary reconstruction using collagen stable isotopes and reassess the possible isotopic signatures of potential protein resources available to prehistoric humans. It appears that the interpretation of the human's isotopic signature does not necessarily imply a significant proportion of aquatic-derived protein in the diet neither for Neandertal nor for first anatomically modern humans in Europe. Exploitation of aquatic ecosystems by humans needs to be supported by further zooarchaeological evidence. Nevertheless, isotopic biogeochemistry of fossil human collagen can be very useful in palaeodietary reconstructions provided that basic rules are followed while selecting samples of coeval fauna, in order to establish the end members of different food resources. Significant progress investigating the evolution of subsistence strategies in fossil hominids is expected from a combination of zooarchaeological and isotopic data.

The histories of maize in northeastern North America are not well understood at the subregional level. The complexity of formation processes for various lines of evidence for maize use requires the application of many analytical methods and techniques to produce data on subregional maize histories. The present analysis uses bulk δ13C values on directly dated charred encrusted cooking residues to provide the first direct correlation of water-based maize cooking to trends in pottery wall thinning. The results add to the growing body of evidence for the history of maize use in central New York.

There 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.

The New Issue of MAA (www.maajournal.com) August 2016 with papers on : GIS, IT, Archaeoastroomy, numismatics, settlement archaeology and more.....
FREE DOWNLOAD, REAL OPEN ACCESS.......

1. EXAMINATION AND ANALYSES OF A WOODEN FACE A THE MUSEUM STORAGE AT THE FACULTY OF ARCHAEOLOGY, CAIRO UNIVERSITY
Yassin Zidan, Nesrin N.M. El Hadidi*, Mourad F. Mohamed
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.47538
2. A STUDY ON CHALICES FROM BEYCESULTAN: THEIR FUNCTION, SOCIAL MEANING AND CULTURAL INTERACTIONS
F. Dedeoğlu
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.47539
3. A POSSIBLE ATTESTATION OF THE NABATAEAN MINISTER SYLLAEUS IN A NEW ANCIENT NORTH ARABIAN (SAFAITIC) INSCRIPTION
Nada Al-Rawabdeh and Sabri Abbadi
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.47540
4. IT-INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGIES TRANSFER TO HERITAGE SITES: THE CASE OF MADABA, JORDAN
Monther M. Jamhawi, Zain A. Hajahjah
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.47541
5. GIS AND GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS IN SUPERFICIAL OPEN-AIR SITES: THE CASE OF RAÑA DE CAÑAMERO NEANDERTHAL SETTLEMENT (GUADIANA BASIN, SPAIN)
Jesús Fernández Fernández, David Álvarez Alonso and Pablo Alonso González
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.47542
6. CRANIAL AND POST-CRANIAL TRAUMATIC INJURY PATTERNS IN VAN CASTLE MOUND MEDIEVAL POPULATION
Ahmet Cem Erkman, Okşan Başoğlu, Gülüşan Özgün Başıbüyük, Pınar Gözlük Kırmızıoğlu, Ayhan Yiğit, Yarenkür Alkan Yalçın, Ferhat Kaya
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.47543
7. CONSIDERING THE RE-USE OF LATE BRONZE AGE BUILDINGS IN LIGHT OF CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION AND HUMAN REMAINS AT BEYCESULTAN
Başak Boz
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.48531
8. NANOCOMPOSITES FOR THE PROTECTION OF GRANITIC OBELISKS AT TANIS, EGYPT
Fatma M. Helmi, Yasser K. Hefni
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.48820
9. THE HANNIBAL ROUTE CONTROVERSY AND FUTURE HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATION IN THE WESTERN ALPS
W.C. Mahaney
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53065
10. AUTHENTICATION AND CONSERVATION OF MARINE ARCHAEOLOGICAL COINS EXCAVATED FROM UNDERWATER OF THE RED SEA, SAUDI ARABIA
Omar Abdel-Kareem, Awad Al-Zahrani, Aljouhara Al-Sadoun
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53066
11. AN OVERVIEW OF THE ECONOMIC STATUS OF THE SAFAVID ERA ON THE BASIS OF SILVER COINS, CASE STUDY: SHAH ABBAS II AND SULTAN HUSSEIN
Hassan Kohansal Vajargah
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53068
12. ANALYTICAL STUDY AND CONSERVATION OF GILDED MUMMIFORM CARTONNAGE FROM THE GRECO-ROMAN PERIOD IN CAIRO MUSEUM
Mona F. Ali,  Ahmed M.El Sheikha, Alaa E. Ali
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53070
13. NEW FINDINGS ON THE CHARACTERIZATION OF ROMAN BEDROCK MORTARS: INTERPRETING THE EVIDENCE FROM ROMAN PINO DEL ORO GOLD MINES (SPAIN)
C. Vázquez-Calvo, R. Fort, D. Romero, A. Beltrán and F. J. Sánchez-Palencia
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53072
14. ANALYSIS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL BONES FROM DIFFERENT SITES IN EGYPT BY A MULTIPLE TECHNIQUES (XRD – EDX – FTIR)
Gomaa Abdel-Maksoud, Alaa El-Sayed
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53073
15. IDENTIFICATION OF (PROBABLY POLISH) COCHINEAL AND OTHER DYES IN BYZANTINE TEXTILES OF THE 14TH CENTURY FROM MOUNT ATHOS
Dimitrios Mantzouris, Ioannis Karapanagiotis, and Christos Karydis
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53074
16. ASTRONOMY AND LANDSCAPE AT THE PREHISTORIC SETTLEMENT VILLAGGIO DEI FARAGLIONI, USTICA, SICILY
Franco Foresta Martin, Giulio Magli
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53075

Abstract
Stable isotope analyses of faunal remains provide valuable information about human–environment interactions in the past, including insights into past animal husbandry and land management strategies. Here, we report stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope values of collagen and carbonate from archaeological fauna from Kałdus, a medieval settlement in North-Central Poland, to better understand human–environment interactions during a period of increasing urbanism and marketization. Wild and domestic animals can be separated on the basis of their isotopic values. The mean δ15N value for 12 domesticated animals is 7.6 ± 1.2‰ and for 5 wild animals is 4.3 ± 0.5‰ (p = 0.002). The mean collagen δ13C value for domesticated animals is −20.6 ± 1.1‰ and for wild animals is −22.0 ± 0.5‰ (p = 0.004). The mean carbonate δ13C value for domesticated animals is −13.14 ± 1.3‰ and for wild animals is −14.14 ± 0.9‰ (p = 0.034). The “canopy effect” and anthropogenic effects that alter stable isotope ratios of plants (manuring, swidden agriculture and ploughing) are discussed in relation to these differences. Fish are isotopically variable, which suggests broad-spectrum fishing strategies and/or trade, and increases our awareness of the difficulties in interpreting human paleodiet when freshwater fish were on the menu.

This volume presents the results of current paleoethnobotanical research in northeastern North America, defined here as New England, New York, and Pennsylvania (Figure 1.1). Paleoethnobotany encompasses all aspects of the investigation of prehistoric human-plant relationships from the identification and dating of plant remains to modeling the evolution of prehistoric plant communities and agriculture. The Northeast has been almost invisible as paleoethnobotany has grown to be an important discipline in Eastern Woodlands archaeology. This volume is presented as an attempt to raise the visibiity of paleoethnobotanical research being carried out in the Northeast. As such, although most of the chapters are concerned in one way or another with prehistoric agriculture, there is no single paleoethnobotanical theme guiding the volume's content.