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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2024

Combining strontium and sulphur isotope analysis to reconstruct Paleolithic reindeer mobility

Résumé

Understanding the movement patterns of past animals is key to unravelling Paleolithic hunter-gatherer mobility and landscape use. Strontium isotope analysis (87Sr/86Sr) has long been used as a proxy for provenance studies based on the high correlation between strontium values in faunal tissues and underlying lithology. However, interpreting 87Sr/86Sr results can prove challenging in areas with either homogenous or heterogenous lithologies. Sulphur isotopic analysis (δ34S) is becoming increasingly useful as a secondary indicator of provenance due to an increased understanding in sulfur variability in relation to coastlines/sea spray effects, changes in lithology and with climate. Thus, combining 87Sr/86Sr and δ34S analyses offers the potential to improve reconstructions of individual movement histories and to infer species-specific spatial behaviors. Focusing on Late Pleistocene France, we present novel 87Sr/86Sr and δ34S isotope data evidencing reindeer mobility patterns across the sedimentary basins of France. By comparing time-series 87Sr/86Sr data and bulk collagen δ34S, we generate a diachronic dataset including samples from Middle and Upper Paleolithic sites, allowing us to reconstruct seasonal movements from early-life and compare with later-life spatial data. This data further illuminates behavioral plasticity in Late Pleistocene reindeer, and the relationship between reindeer paleoecology to past climate change and human behaviors.
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Dates et versions

hal-04603933 , version 1 (06-06-2024)

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  • HAL Id : hal-04603933 , version 1

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Sarah Barakat, Elodie-Laure Jimenez, Vaughan Grimes, Emmanuel Discamps, Kate Britton. Combining strontium and sulphur isotope analysis to reconstruct Paleolithic reindeer mobility. Society for American Archaeology, Apr 2024, New Orleans, United States. ⟨hal-04603933⟩
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