Isotopic Investigation of Diet and Residential Mobility in the Neolithic of the Lower Rhine Basin

Abstract

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Phytolith aided paleoenvironmental studies fromthe Dutch Neolithic

“…This information is in line with the assumption that wetland areas could have been used for crop cultivation due to the complexity of the biotopes present besides foraging between 4300 and 4000 BC [6,11,12]. According to the literature, pollen analysis of coprolites from Dutch sites proved to be a useful tool in paleoenvironmental reconstructions [47][48][49]. Similar results were gained for phytoliths as well by our work.…”

“To the Land or to the Sea”: Diet and Mobility in Early Medieval Frisia

“…Strontium and oxygen isotope ratios are linked to geographical variables and are a key tool in the archaeological investigation of population mobility (e.g., Chenery et al 2010;Knudson et al 2012;Smits et al 2010). Enamel is currently the material of choice for strontium and oxygen isotope analysis, due to its greater resistance to diagenesis, relative to bone or dentine (Kohn and Cerling 2002).…”

“…early Medieval European sites (Linderholm et al 2008;Müldner and Richards 2007;Privat et al 2002), and Brean Down salt-marsh (Britton et al 2008). (Brettell et al 2012;Smits et al 2010). Data from Sannerville and Giberville (Brettell et al 2012) have been combined due to the sites' geographic proximity and are presented as Caen.…”

Can we reconcile individualisation with relational ‘personhood: a case study from the Early Neolithic

“…The seemingly ubiquitous decline in marine and freshwater protein contributions to the diets of early farming communities (Bonsall et al 2000;Milner et al 2004;Honch et al 2006;Smits et al 2010) means that fish and shellfish consumption was limited to once per week for the dietary signal to be absent. The status of such fisher(wo)men and shellfish-collectors, which were embedded in household practices, is more difficult to estimate than the gender -probably female for shell-collectors and male for fisher-folk (see above).…”