Analysis Of Enamel Research Articles

Multi-Season Reproduction and Pastoralist Production Strategies: New Approaches to Birth Seasonality from the South Caucasus Region

ABSTRACT Current debates about pastoralists’ role in the development of complex forms of political organization in the ancient Near East and the Caucasus revolve around questions about pastoralist production and mobility. This study investigates sheep birth seasonality at Late Bronze Age (1500–1100 b.c.) sites in the Tsaghkahovit Plain, Armenia, using O data from the incremental analysis of tooth enamel and zooarchaeological age at death data. Incorporating age at death data in sampling and analysis, and analyzing larger datasets, makes it possible to use birth seasonality data to examine the organization of pastoralist production, labor, and mobility. Analysis reveals that sheep were born across multiple seasons (80% of the annual cycle) in the Tsaghkahovit Plain and that there are significant differences in the birth seasonality of sheep slaughtered at different ages. The data suggest that herders in the Tsaghkahovit Plain were actively manipulating sheep reproduction by both constraining and expanding it.

Multi-isotope evidence of population aggregation in the Natufian and scant migration during the early Neolithic of the Southern Levant

Human mobility and migration are thought to have played essential roles in the consolidation and expansion of sedentary villages, long-distance exchanges and transmission of ideas and practices during the Neolithic transition of the Near East. Few isotopic studies of human remains dating to this early complex transition offer direct evidence of mobility and migration. The aim of this study is to identify first-generation non-local individuals from Natufian to Pre-Pottery Neolithic C periods to explore the scope of human mobility and migration during the Neolithic transition in the Southern Levant, an area that is central to this historical process. The study adopted a multi-approach resorting to strontium (87Sr/86Sr), oxygen (δ18OVSMOW) and carbon (δ13C) isotope ratio analyses of tooth enamel of 67 human individuals from five sites in Jordan, Syria, and Israel. The isotope ratios point both to a significant level of human migration and/or mobility in the Final Natufian which is compatible with early sedentarism and seasonal mobility and with population aggregation in early sedentary hamlets. The current findings, in turn, offer evidence that most individuals dating to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic were local to their respective settlements despite certain evidence of non-locals. Interestingly, isotopic data suggest that two possible non-local individuals benefitted from particular burial practices. The results underscore a decrease in human mobility and migration as farming became increasingly dominant among the subsistence strategies throughout the Neolithic transition of the Southern Levant.

The life-history of a late Mesolithic woman in Iberia: A sequential multi-isotope approach

Multi-isotope analyses on diverse body tissues can offer valuable information on individual life-histories at different temporal resolutions. Here, we reconstruct the diet and mobility of a Late Mesolithic (ca. 5500 cal. BC) young woman buried in Aizpea rockshelter (Navarre, north-central Iberia). To this end, we combine δ 13 C and δ 15 N isotope analyses of bone collagen, together with sequential δ 13 C and δ 15 N isotope analyses of tooth dentine and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr analysis of tooth enamel from the permanent maxillary right second molar. We also present results of bone collagen measurements for a wide range of coeval faunal remains, including terrestrial ungulates, freshwater fish and birds, and plant remains (i.e. carbonized pome fruits and hazelnut shells) to characterize baseline isotopic signatures. Results suggest a broad-spectrum diet with a relatively high and stable protein intake during early childhood and significant changes in diet during late childhood, including two marked dips in δ 15 N at 8.5 and 11.5 years old, and a progressive decrease in δ 13 C and δ 15 N from adolescence onwards. The dips may relate to metabolic processes related to growth or, more probably, to age-related subsistence practices, particularly supplementation by children of the parentally provisioned diet, while the sustained drop in isotope values may be associated with a progressively higher dietary contribution from plants that extends into adulthood. Strontium isotope data support relatively restricted mobility from age 2.5 to 8 (i.e. the approximate time-span covered by enamel formation in the permanent maxillary second molar), consistent with the high degree of territoriality attributed to the last hunters-gatherers in northern Iberia.

Stable isotope analyses of the carbonate component of bones and teeth: The need for method standardization

In addition to the collagen and phosphate components of bones and teeth, the stable carbon and oxygen isotope compositions of skeletal carbonate are frequently measured to determine diet, environmental conditions, and populational or individual migration in bioarchaeological research. A standardized method for the stable isotopic analysis of skeletal carbonate has not yet been established, despite the importance of these data. In this study, significant differences in the stable oxygen isotope values of bones and dental enamel were observed, which arose due to instrument- and methodology-based differences. The same target archaeological samples were analyzed in three laboratories, and the stable isotope analyses were supplemented by Fourier Transformation Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) measurements, which detected a strong OH− concentration-dependence in the stable oxygen isotopic shifts measured between the three laboratories. Laboratory experiments were conducted to quantify the effects of reaction temperature and phosphoric acid (H3PO4) concentration on the oxygen isotopic composition of carbonate, both of which resulted in significant, though smaller δ18O changes than the OH-related δ18O change. As such, we suggest that the δ18O values of bone structural carbonate should not be included in anthropological interpretation and that the analysis of tooth enamel should be conducted at 70 °C using 102% H3PO4, in order to make the results comparable. Furthermore, carbonated hydroxylapatite (CHAP) reference materials with varied isotopic compositions should be developed in the near future.

Isotopic evidences regarding migration at the archeological site of Praia da Tapera: New data to an old matter

Abstract The present study aims to elucidate, using δ 13 C, δ 15 N and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr analysis of tooth enamel and dentin, some aspects of the geographic origin and the dietary habits of 42 individuals associated with a ceramic group buried in the coastal shallow site of Praia da Tapera, located on the island of Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil. The ceramic shreds found on this site would be associated with groups that inhabited the Southern Brazilian Plateau, and the presence of this evidence at Praia da Tapera and some other coastal sites raises important questions, not yet resolved, about the origin and the way of life of these pre-Columbian coastal groups that emerged in the region around 1500 years BP. The isotopic results suggest that none of the analyzed individuals would have come from the Plateau region. They probably were born and raised on the coast, including the site area. The wider 87 Sr/ 86 Sr variation found in the women may be signifying a patrilocal post-marital residential system to this group. The isotopic results also suggest that marine resources such as fish were the main food source. Despite the terrestrial fauna not being an important part of the protein diet, the boars analyzed from the site presented strontium values incompatible with the local geology, suggesting that these animals were hunted on the continent. This first isotopic study on a shallow coastal site with ceramic reinforces the idea of complexity regarding migration and trade networks between groups that inhabited the coast and the Plateau of Serra Geral around a thousand years before the arrival of Europeans in the region.

An Introduction to the Isotopic Studies of Ancient Human Remains

Abstract This paper provides an introduction to methods in archaeology that utilize light isotopes for helping to determine diet and heavier isotopes for information on mobility and provenience of specimens. The common isotopic systems of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, strontium, and lead are described in terms of basic principles, specifically with references of human bone and tooth enamel. Isotopic analyses of carbon and nitrogen in collagen for past diet provides information on certain food types (e.g., C4 plants, marine resources, freshwater fish) and trophic level, while the analysis of oxygen, strontium, and lead can provide information on local vs. non-local origins, mobility, and place of origin. Analysis of tooth enamel provides information on childhood contexts, and the analysis of adult bone provides information on the later years of life. This paper is intended to provide the methodological background for the isotopic analysis of human and faunal materials from the Viking colonization of the North ...

Systematics and phylogeny of middle Miocene Cervidae (Mammalia) from Mae Moh Basin (Thailand) and a paleoenvironmental estimate using enamel isotopy of sympatric herbivore species

ABSTRACT The primitive deer (subfamily Lagomerycinae) Lagomeryx and Stephanocemas are characterized primarily by their palmate antlers. Two lagomerycines, Lagomeryx manai, sp. nov., and Stephanocemas rucha, are described for the first time from Q and K coal layers of the late middle Miocene (13.4–13.2 Ma) Mae Moh Basin in northern Thailand. A species-level phylogeny of the Ligeromeryx-Lagomeryx clade, based on cranial appendages, reconstructs Lagomeryx manai, n. sp., as a derived species of Lagomeryx, sister group of Lagomeryx complicidens. This study suggests that the large species of Lagomeryx are restricted geographically to Asia and dispersed to Southeast Asia at the latest during late middle Miocene, where they are represented by Lagomeryx manai, n. sp. The paleoenvironmental studies of five Mae Moh mammalian taxa, a cervid (Lagomeryx manai, n. sp.), an indeterminate bovid, a suid (Conohyus thailandicus), a rhinoceros (Gaindatherium sp.), and a proboscidean (Stegolophodon sp.), investigated with stable carbon and oxygen isotope analyses of tooth enamel, indicate that the Mae Moh mammals inhabited a wide range of habitats from woodlands to grasslands in a C3-plant-dominated environment. The new species of Lagomeryx seems to have been living in an open environment, contrary to its European relatives. The serial isotopic samples also support that Mae Moh herbivores probably lived in a low-seasonal climate during the late middle Miocene of northern Thailand. SUPPLEMENTAL DATA—Supplemental materials are available for this article for free at www.tandfonline.com/UJVP

Electron Spin Resonance Analysis of Tooth Enamel Does not Indicate Exposures to Large Radiation Doses in a Large Proportion of Distally-exposed A-bomb Survivors

The atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to two different types of radiation exposure; one was direct and brief and the other was indirect and persistent. The latter (so-called exposure to residual radiation) resulted from the presence of neutron activation products in the soil, or from fission products present in the fallout. Compared with the doses from direct exposures, estimations of individual doses from residual radiation have been much more complicated, and estimates vary widely among researchers. The present report bases its conclusions on radiation doses recorded in tooth enamel from survivors in Hiroshima. Those survivors were present at distances of about 3 km or greater from the hypocenter at the time of the explosion, and have DS02 estimated doses (direct exposure doses) of less than 5 mGy (and are regarded as control subjects). Individual doses were estimated by measuring CO(2)(-) radicals in tooth enamel with the electron spin resonance (ESR; or electron paramagnetic resonance, EPR) method. The results from 56 molars donated by 49 survivors provided estimated doses which vary from -200 mGy to 500 mGy, and the median dose was 17 mGy (25% and 75% quartiles are -54 mGy and 137 mGy, respectively) for the buccal parts and 13 mGy (25% and 75% quartiles: -49 mGy and 87 mGy, respectively) for the lingual parts of the molars. Three molars had ESR-estimated doses of 300 to 400 mGy for both the buccal and lingual parts, which indicates possible exposures to excess doses of penetrating radiation, although the origin of such radiation remains to be determined. The results did not support claims that a large fraction of distally-exposed survivors received large doses (e.g. 1 Gy) of external penetrating radiation resulting from residual radiation.

A Method to Differentiate between the Levels of ESR Signals Induced by Sunlight and by Ionizing Radiation in Teeth from Atomic Bomb Survivors

Electron spin resonance (ESR, or electron paramagnetic resonance, EPR) analysis of tooth enamel is an effective method for the retrospective estimation of individual radiation doses. One problem with this technique is that the observed ESR signal may include a contribution from ultraviolet (UV) light exposure from sunlight, especially in front teeth. Thus there has been a need to find ways to estimate the UV-light effect in the total signal so that the net ESR dose from ionizing radiation can be determined. To examine this issue, we measured 96 teeth of various types, but with buccal and lingual parts measured separately, from a control group of atomic bomb survivors (estimated dose <5 mGy). We found that, except for molars, the mean ESR-estimated dose for the buccal halves was, on average, nearly twice that from the lingual side, which indicates that the UV-light-induced lingual dose equals the difference between the two halves. Using these corrections for UV-light exposure to front teeth that had been exposed to both ionizing radiation and UV light, it was found that the estimated radiation doses closely approximated the previously estimated ESR dose to molars from the same donors or the estimated dose arrived at with cytogenetic methods. We concluded that, when using ESR to estimate radiation dose, measuring molars is the first choice, but if only front teeth are available, separate measurements to the buccal and lingual parts can provide an estimation of the mean UV-light contribution to the ESR-determined dose.