Abstract
Isotopic analysis of dog (Canis lupus familiaris) bone recovered from archaeological sites as proxies for human bone is becoming common in North America. Chronological placement of the dogs is often determined through radiocarbon dating of dog bone. The Great Lakes, their tributaries, and nearby lakes and streams were important fisheries for Native Americans prior to and after sustained European presence in the region. Carbon entering the food web in freshwater systems is often not in full isotopic equilibrium with the atmosphere, giving rise to spuriously old radiocarbon ages in fish, other aquatic organisms, and their consumers. These freshwater reservoir offsets (FROs) have been noted on human and dog bone in several areas of the world. Here we report the results of multi-tracer Bayesian dietary modeling using δ15N and δ13C values on dog bone collagen from mid-fifteenth to mid-sixteenth-century Iroquoian village sites at the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River, New York, USA. Results indicate that fish was an important component of dog diets. A comparison of radiocarbon dates on dog bone with dates on deer bone or maize from the same sites indicate FROs ranging from 97 ± 24 to 220 ± 39 14Cyr with a weighted mean of 132 ± 8 14Cyr. These results suggest that dog bone should not be used for radiocarbon dating in the absence of modeling to determine fish consumption and that previously reported radiocarbon dates on human bone from the larger region are likely to have FROs given the known importance of fish in regional human diets.
Highlights
The canine surrogacy approach is becoming increasingly popular in North American archaeology to assess human diets through isotope analyses when Native American human bone is unavailable for destructive analysis
freshwater reservoir offsets (FROs) may be present in radiocarbon dates on charred cooking residues adhering to pottery that incorporate carbon from fish (Heron & Craig, 2015)
Freshwater fish was an important component of prehistoric human diets in many areas of the world as is evident from the recovery of fish bone on archaeological sites (e.g., Hawkins et al, 2019), analysis of lipids recovered from pottery (e.g., Craig et al, 2013), and isotopic analysis of human bone (e.g., Lillie et al, 2016)
Summary
The canine surrogacy approach is becoming increasingly popular in North American archaeology to assess human diets through isotope analyses when Native American human bone is unavailable for destructive analysis. The assumption is that dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) had diets similar to those of the humans with whom they lived (Edwards, Jeske & Coltrain, 2017). These analyses of dog bone may include radiocarbon assays to determine the chronological placements of the dog remains under study or more broadly. Freshwater reservoir offsets on radiocarbon-dated dog bone from the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River, USA. Dog bone may be radiocarbon dated when used for other analyses such as ancient DNA (e.g., Perri et al, 2019)
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