Factors Influencing the Radiocarbon Dating of Human Skeletal Remains from the Dnieper River System: Archaeological and Stable Isotope Evidence of Diet from the Epipaleolithic to Eneolithic Periods

Malcolm Lillie,Inna Potekhina,Rowena Henderson,Chelsea Budd

doi:10.1017/rdc.2016.33

Abstract

AbstractRecent research has identified the existence of a freshwater reservoir effect influencing the radiocarbon dating of human skeletal remains from the Dnieper region of Ukraine (Lillie et al. 2009). The current study outlines the evidence for freshwater resource exploitation throughout the period ~10,200–3700 cal BC, and presents the available evidence for the existence of dietary offsets in the14C dates obtained. We have obtained human skeletal material from 54 Epipaleolithic to Mesolithic period individuals and 267 Neolithic to Eneolithic individuals, from 13 cemeteries, since our research in Ukraine began in 1992. Here, we present the initial results of stable isotope analysis of Eneolithic individuals from the Igren VIII cemetery alongside the Epipaleolithic to Eneolithic samples that have previously been analyzed. When contrasted against the evidence from the prehistoric fauna and fish remains studied, and modern fish species from the Dnieper region, we continue to see variability in diets at the population level, both internally and across cemeteries. We also observed temporal variability in human diets across these chronological periods. The fish samples (both archaeological and modern) show a wide range of isotope ratios for both δ13C and δ15N, which could prove significant when interpreting the dietary sources being exploited. This information directly informs the14C dating program as an inherent degree of complexity is introduced into the dating of individuals whose diets combine freshwater and terrestrial sources in differing quantities and at differing temporal and/or spatial scales (e.g. Bronk Ramsey et al. 2014).

Highlights

AND BACKGROUNDThe Dnieper Rapids region of Ukraine (Figure 1) is unusual in a Eurpean context, in that it has a concentration of cemeteries dating from the Epipaleolithic through to Eneolithic/Copper Age periods (~10,200–3700 cal BC)
We present the initial results of stable isotope analysis of Eneolithic individuals from the Igren VIII cemetery alongside the Epipaleolithic to Eneolithic samples that have previously been analyzed
Pottery is found in the collective stages of burial at these cemeteries, during the Neolithic and later periods, and fish and deer tooth pendants occur as grave goods during all periods, with boar tusk plates in evidence during the later Mesolithic and Neolithic periods

Summary

Introduction

The Dnieper Rapids region of Ukraine (Figure 1) is unusual in a Eurpean context, in that it has a concentration of cemeteries dating from the Epipaleolithic through to Eneolithic/Copper Age periods (~10,200–3700 cal BC). The cemeteries in this region are characterized, in part, by the presence of extended burials, albeit with crouched inhumations occurring in the earliest phase of the sequence at Vasilyevka III (Epipaleolithic) and in the latest phase considered here, at Molyukhov Bugor (Eneolithic). A number of the Dnieper Rapids cemeteries may have functioned as territorial markers or as locations that indicated ancestral rights of access to the rich resources of the Dnieper River and its tributaries (Brinch Petersen and Meiklejohn 1995; Lillie 2008; Meiklejohn et al 2009)

Methods

Results

Conclusion