Abstract
ABSTRACTIn recent years, it has become evident that limitations exist in our ability to meaningfully assess palaeodiet using stable isotope compositions. These limitations in part arise because many of the fundamental assumptions about tissue-diet relationships are poorly understood. In order to redress this deficiency, a controlled feeding experiment was undertaken to define the impact of terrestrial- vs. marine-derived dietary protein consumption on consumer tissue carbon isotopic compositions (δ13C). Two generations of pigs were raised on one of five feeds with varying proportions of terrestrial (soy) and marine (fish meal) protein. A comprehensive range of tissues and fluids from 49 pigs was submitted for δ13C analysis.The observed tissue–whole diet and tissue–dietary protein carbon isotopic offsets were found to be highly dependent on the percentage of marine protein in diet. We suggest that the trend in δ13C offsets most likely derives from the increased routing of non-essential amino acids, especially glycine, with the increasing proportion of marine protein in the diet. These findings demonstrate that solely using bulk δ13C compositions not only masks considerable information about diet, but may also lead to erroneous representations of marine and terrestrial resource consumption in the past.
Highlights
Of central importance in many archaeological investigations are patterns of resource use through time and across geographic regions, during environmentally- or culturally-mediated periods of dietary change, such as the postulated shift away from marine resource consumption during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition across Europe (Richards et al, 2003; Tauber et al, 1981)
We investigated the impact of marine protein consumption on consumer tissue isotopic compositions through a controlled pig feeding study
This study has shown that, when a mixed diet incorporating marine resources is consumed, bulk tissue δ13C values may be misleading
Summary
Of central importance in many archaeological investigations are patterns of resource use through time and across geographic regions, during environmentally- or culturally-mediated periods of dietary change, such as the postulated shift away from marine resource consumption during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition across Europe (Richards et al, 2003; Tauber et al, 1981). Stable carbon-isotope (δ13C) analysis of human and faunal remains has been used for over three decades to investigate palaeodiet. These determinations make valuable contributions to our understanding of resource exploitation in the past where differential access and exploitation can have important implications for socio-political and economic behaviour. In ecologically-complex areas where numerous resources are available for exploitation, stable isotopic compositions are used to evaluate relative consumption of different kinds of food, for example, Mesoamerica (e.g. Emery et al, 2000; Scherer et al, 2007; Warinner et al, 2013; White, 2005; White et al, 1993) or the western coast of South America (e.g. Finucane et al, 2006; Gil et al, 2011; Knudson et al, 2015; Tomczak, 2003; Webb et al, 2013; Yesner et al, 2003). It was hypothesised that bone mineral δ13C values (bioapatite; δ13Csc) should reflect the δ13C values of dietary carbohydrates, lipids, and, to a lesser extent, protein, whereas bone protein δ13C values (collagen; δ13Ccol) should most strongly reflect dietary protein (Krueger & Sullivan, 1984)
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