Carbon and nitrogen isotope signals in eel bone collagen from Mesolithic and Neolithic sites in northern Europe

Back to the future? Late Holocene marine food web structure in a warm climatic phase as a predictor of trophodynamics in a warmer South‐Western Atlantic Ocean

“…The N baseline may shift throughout time due to changes in N fixation and denitrification and may result into dramatic changes in δ 15 N values of consumers even if trophic position has remained unmodified (Brugam et al, ; Robson et al, ; Saporiti, Bearhop, et al, ). The mollusc shells values reported here match the declining pattern since the Middle Holocene reported by Saporiti, Bearhop, et al () for the Beagle Channel and support the hypothesis that marine primary productivity was higher between 1,278 and 1,013 cal years BP than currently.…”

“…Research dealing with zooarchaeological samples usually correct for the Suess effect (e.g., Braje et al, 2017;Chamberlain et al, 2005;Szpak et al, 2018;Zangrando, Riccialdelli, et al, 2016), but often forget about the impact of variables amounts of lipids on the δ 13 C values of skeletal remains (Bas & Cardona, 2018;Guiry et al, 2016). As a result, lipid removal from zooarchaeological samples is still uncommon and likely to confound the interpretation of results (e.g., Braje et al, 2017;Robson et al, 2012;Szpak et al, 2009;Szpak, Orchard, Salomon, & Gröcke, 2013). Here, we removed lipids from all the samples analysed and latter corrected mathematically the δ 13 C values to cope with incomplete delipidation treatment, except those of eelpout (from Riccialdelli et al, 2017).…”

Diet and mobility among Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in Motala (Sweden) - The isotope perspective

“…The wild faunal isotope data are in accordance with expectations for this period and region (cf. Fornander et al, 2008;Lidén et al, 2004;Robson et al, 2012Robson et al, , 2016. A number of artefacts made of antler and bone of indeterminate species, were also analysed, showing δ 13 C and δ 15 N values indicating that they were all made from terrestrial herbivores.…”

“…This particular perch was therefore likely caught in the sea, and brought to Motala by humans, and deposited at Kanaljorden. Eel are catadromous and the analysed eel may have been caught locally while still retaining a marine signal in collagen, or it may have been caught in the Baltic (Robson et al, 2012).…”

Effects of skeletal element identity, delipidation and demineralization on the analysis of stable isotope ratios of C and N in fish bone

“…Bones of marine animals, including fishes, are frequently recovered in the zooarchaeological record of coastal areas and analysis of their stable isotope ratios offers a great opportunity to assess historical changes in the structure of marine food webs (Robson et al, 2012;Szpak et al, 2013;Saporiti et al, 2014;Braje et al, 2017). A literature search yielded only one previous study (Barrett et al, 2011), which addressed intra-skeletal variability of stable isotope ratios in fish, to conclude that differences did not exist among the praemaxilla, cleithrum and caudal vertebra of Atlantic cod Gadus morhua L. 1758.…”