EAA 2022: Abstract

It is increasingly acknowledged that comparison of hominin adaptive behaviours and capacities necessitates detailed, multi-scalar analysis of the local environments they inhabited. Stable isotope analysis has long played a key role in providing direct evidence of hominin prey-species ecology, most prominently via stable carbon and nitrogen analysis of bone collagen in relation to individual diet and habitat preference. More recently, stable oxygen isotope analysis and strontium isotope analysis (87Sr/86Sr) of tooth enamel have been increasingly used to explore mobility, range and migration patterns of hominin prey. As researchers begin to move beyond ‘local’ and ‘non-local’ interpretations, a number of studies have demonstrated the potential of strontium isotope analysis to reconstruct individual mobility at higher resolution on a sub annual scale, providing key data on prey species’ movement on the scale of human activity. Unfortunately, the use of stable oxygen isotope analysis and strontium analysis is often hindered by a lack of local isoscapes, the complexities of underlying geological or hydrological variation, and a lack of past references. When used in tandem, however, combination of isotopic proxies can refine interpretations. Here we present a multi-isotope case study of archaeofaunal material for two prey-species, horse and reindeer, from two Palaeolithic sites in Central Germany. We applied stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis, as well as strontium isotope analysis, of serially sampled tooth enamel. We demonstrate the advantages of combining strontium isotope analysis with other isotopic proxies when reconstructing Pleistocene prey species ecology and discuss how the information generated can contribute to broader interpretations of Palaeolithic hominin subsistence adaptations.

strontium, oxygen, isotope analysis, European Pleistocene, faunal palaeoecology

Oral presentation

  Abstract (PDF)

Phoebe Heddell-Stevens^1,2

Patrick Roberts^2,3