L’origine des chevaux du site du Mormont (canton deVaud, Suisse) : l’apport des isotopes de carbone, d’oxygène et de strontium

International audienc

Investigating seasonality and season of birth in past herds: A reference set of sheep enamel stable oxygen isotope ratios

International audienceIntra-tooth sequential analysis of enamel δ18O is currently used to investigate birth seasonality in past animal populations, offering new insights into seasonal availability of animal resources, herd management and seasonality of site occupation. Reference datasets are still required to address two major difficulties: (1) inter-individual variability in the record of the seasonal cycle is affected by tooth size; (2) the season of birth cannot be directly estimated from the timing of tooth growth, because of a delay in enamel mineralization. We present a dataset acquired on the lower second molar of ten modern sheep from Rousay (Orkney) born within a few weeks in April / May and submitted to the same environmental conditions until death. All sheep have recorded a sinusoidal pattern of δ18O variation spanning approximately a year. From the difference between expected and measured time sequence, the delay of enamel mineralization is estimated to five to six months. The data set is then described using a model mainly based on a cosine function. The period, corresponding to the length of M2 crown formed over a year, averaged 35.8 mm. A very slight variation of tooth growth rate with time and no attenuation of the isotopic signal towards the cervical margin of the crown could be detected on this dataset. The lowest δ18O values, corresponding to the sheep's first winter, were tracked at a distance from the enamel-root junction varying between 23.0 and 30.3 mm (xmin mean = 27.6 mm); the highest δ18O values, corresponding to the sheep second summer, between 6.3 and 11.6 mm (xmax mean = 9.9 mm). Most of the variability can be attributed to tooth size. When normalized on the period, xmin and xmax are 0.28 (± 0.05) and 0.78 ( ± 0.05) on average, meaning that the Rousay sheep have recorded the minimum and maximum δ18O values on average at respectively 78 % and 28 % of the end of the periodic cycle recorded in the second molar

L’alimentation des troupeaux porcins et la production de viande à Levroux Les Arènes (Indre) : une analyse isotopique

Au IIe siècle a. C., sur le site de Levroux Les Arènes, l’élevage est spécialisé sur le porc qui tient une place prépondérante dans les assemblages fauniques. L’organisation structurelle des abattages et l’observation d’anomalies dans la représentation de parties riches en viande ont soulevé l’hypothèse d’une viande de porc qui ait constitué une marchandise exportée localement ou sur longue distance. Des analyses des compositions isotopiques en carbone et en azote du collagène de l’os des porcins, des caprinés, des bovins et des chiens de Levroux ont permis de mieux cerner deux questions fondamentales : d’une part le régime alimentaire pour lequel les résultats suggèrent que les porcs avaient probablement un régime herbivore, avec une composante d’élevage en plein air ; d’autre part, le fait que les spécimens traités à Levroux aient pu être recrutés dans différents lieux d’élevage, le village étant alors un lieu de transformation avant une redistribution.status: publishe

Early herding at Măgura-Boldul lui Moş Ivănuş (early sixth millennium BC, Romania): environments and seasonality from stable isotope analysis

International audienceStable isotope analyses were conducted on faunal remains from the site of Măgura-Boldul lui MoşIvănuş with the objective of characterizing the environments and seasonality of husbandry in theearliest Neolithic (Gura Baciului-Cârcea/Starčevo-Criş I) of southern Romania. Results from bonecollagen analysis indicate extensive herding strategies for cattle and pigs. However, sequential analysisin tooth enamel also provides evidence for winter leaf foddering in one bovine, potentially kept by thesettlement over winter. In some instances, sheep were fed a 13C-enriched resource in late winter, whichmay have also coincided with lactation. It could not be determined whether this contribution was fromC3 or C4 plants. Although isolated, these findings may be important in evaluating how early agriculturalcommunities dealt with environmental constraints. These results are also interpreted withreference to the models of intensive mixed farming systems recently proposed by Bogaard (2004) andHalstead (2006)

Cattle and sheep herding at Cheia, Romania, at the turn of the 5th millennium BC: a view from stable isotope analysis

International audienc

Cattle and sheep herding at Cheia, Romania, at the turn of the 5th millennium BC: a view from stable isotope analysis

International audienc

Standardized pork production at the Celtic village of Levroux Les Arènes (France, 2nd c. BC): evidence from kill-off patterns and birth seasonality inferred from enamel δ18O analysis

The pig predominates the zooarchaeological assemblage of the second Iron Age settlement of Levroux Les Arènes, in a context characterised by intensive craft and trade activities. The pattern of pig mortality profiles (targeting two-year-old animals), standardized butchery cut-marks and the under-occurrence of ham-bearing bones suggest that there was standardized pork production potentially designed for trade. This hypothesis was investigated through enamel δ18O analysis, allowing the seasonality of pig births to be determined and the reasons for a particular age class in the kill-off patterns to be explained. Results reveal that pig births were spread across more than half a year, suggesting that slaughter was not seasonally constrained, but was performed to target a specific age class and weight/size at death, thus supporting the hypothesis of standardized pork production in Levroux Les Arènes. For the first time, the stable isotope approach – sequential δ18O analysis in pig incisors developed on a modern reference set – has been performed on an archaeological assemblage, after methodological adaptation. The results constitute the first zooarchaeological evidence of such a standardization of meat production from the second century onwards in Gaul

Cattle and sheep herding at Cheia, Romania, at the turn of the 5th millennium BC: a view from stable isotope analysis

International audienc

Sophisticated cattle dairy husbandry at Borduşani-Popină (Romania, fifth millennium BC): the evidence from complementary analysis of mortality profiles and stable isotopes

International audienceBorduşani-Popină is a Gumelniţa tell site in south-eastern Romania. The cattle mortality profile suggests ahusbandry oriented towards prime meat exploitation and dairy production highlighted by the keeping ofcattle to advanced age. Besides, the culling strategy also targeted young calves. A stable isotope ratio studywas undertaken on dental rows. Bone and dentine collagen δ15N values show that the calves within theslaughtering peak were well-advanced in the weaning process, suggesting that the slaughter was delayeduntil the end of the cows’ lactation. A consequence would be the sharing of milk production betweenherders and calves. High inter- and intra-individual variability in bone collagen and enamel bioapatite δ13Cvalues indicated variations in the seasonal ratio of C4 and C3 plants in fodder and between age groups.Overall, the complementary study of mortality profiles and stable isotopes provide evidence of sophisticatedhusbandry during the fifth millennium cal. BC

Phosphorylcholine-carbohydrate-protein conjugates efficiently induce hapten-specific antibodies which recognize both Streptococcus pneumoniae and Neisseria meningitidis: a potential multitarget vaccine against respiratory infections.

International audiencePhosphorylcholine (ChoP) is commonly expressed at the surface of pathogens of the respiratory tract, including Streptococcus pneumoniae and Neisseria meningitidis. We designed a synthetic hapten comprising ChoP and part of its native carrier structure in S. pneumoniae, i.e. N-acetyl-D-galactosamine (GalNAc). Protein conjugates of this hapten induced GalNAc-ChoP-specific antibodies which recognized ChoP on both S. pneumoniae and N. meningitidis. GalNAc-ChoP could therefore lead to the rational design of a novel multipurpose vaccine against respiratory infections