Sampling shells for seasonality: oxygen isotope analysis on shell carbonates of the inter-tidal gastropod Monodonta lineata (da Costa) from populations across its modern range and from a Mesolithic site in southern Britain

Shell oxygen isotope values and sclerochronology of the limpet Patella vulgata Linnaeus 1758 from northern Iberia: Implications for the reconstruction of past seawater temperatures

“…Therefore, oxygen isotope signatures recorded in ancient shells can be potentially used for reconstruction of past seawater temperatures, but also for determination of subsistence strategies and settlement patterns of past populations through the study of season of shell collection (Burchell et al, 2013;Colonese et al, 2009;Culleton et al, 2009;Mannino et al, 2003).…”

Mesolithic shellfish exploitation in SW Italy: seasonal evidence from the oxygen isotopic composition of Osilinus turbinatus shells

“…A proven approach to investigate temporal patterns of prehistoric shellfish exploitation is the analysis of the oxygen isotopic ratio (d 18 O) of the latest growth increment of mollusc shells (e.g. Kennett and Voorhies, 1996;Quitmyer et al, 1997;Mannino et al, 2003Mannino et al, , 2007Jones et al, 2008). This is based on the fact that the d…”

Oxygen isotopes in Molluscan shell: Applications in environmental archaeology

“…Prendergast (2013) recommends staining the sections with Mutvei's solution after drilling so that sample locations can be retrospectively matched to individual growth increments. For season of collection analysis, a few sequential samples are usually drilled from the outer edge along the axis of growth (Mannino et al 2003(Mannino et al , 2011Prendergast 2013). In a study of modern shells from Sicily, Mannino et al (2003) analysed the last-deposited growth increments of shells (in the context of data from a whole year) and compared to environmental data.…”

“…For season of collection analysis, a few sequential samples are usually drilled from the outer edge along the axis of growth (Mannino et al 2003(Mannino et al , 2011Prendergast 2013). In a study of modern shells from Sicily, Mannino et al (2003) analysed the last-deposited growth increments of shells (in the context of data from a whole year) and compared to environmental data. They removed the outer calcite layer with a manual drill, and then samples were drilled from the last-deposited growth increments.…”

“…This might be temperature in O in season-of-collection studies must balance the need to analyse enough shells per archaeological context to detect meaningful foraging patterns with the need to characterise the pattern of growth to accurately determine season of collection (Mannino et al 2003). Early studies measured only the outermost growth increment which seems to work when identifying seasonal extremes (i.e.…”