Evidence for Marine Consumption During the Upper Palaeolithic at “El Pirulejo” Inland Rock- Shelter (Southern Iberia Peninsula, Spain)

During the Last Glacial Maximum and deglaciation, the Iberian Peninsula served as a faunal and human population refugium. Human foodways have always played a pivotal role in understanding social and cultural practices in prehistory. Nonetheless, the limited number of archaeological sites and human remains in this region hinders the complete understanding of these critical communities’ diet. To increase our knowledge about human consumption patterns, we selected three Magdalenian levels from the site of El Pirulejo (Southern Iberia Peninsula, Spain). These levels are characterized by a high abundance of rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) remains (76–97% MNI), initially suggesting that rabbits were the primary source of protein for site inhabitants. Stable isotope analysis was conducted on two human teeth in tandem with stable isotope analysis of the rabbit teeth. Contrary to the expectations derived from the zooarchaeological analysis, rabbits were not a significant source of dietary protein. Carbon and nitrogen bulk isotopic values are the most enriched found in sampled human remains for this area and context. Our data supports aquatic food resource inclusion and increased resource diversity among Iberian hunter-gatherers during the Magdalenian. This study is consistent with previous studies that suggested a socio-economic network among human groups between inland and coastal regions in the terminal Pleistocene Southern Iberia

Isotopic evidence for dietary ecology of late Neandertals in North-Western Europe

International audienc

Reconstruction of the Gravettian food-web at Predmosti I using multi-isotopic tracking (13C, 15N, 34S) of bone collagen

International audienc

Reconstruction of the Gravettian food-web at Predmosti I using multi-isotopic tracking (13C, 15N, 34S) of bone collagen

International audienc

Advances in the application of amino acid nitrogen isotopic analysis in ecological and biogeochemical studies

Compound-specific isotopic analysis of amino acids (CSIA-AA) has emerged in the last decade as a powerful approach for tracing the origins and fate of nitrogen in ecological and biogeochemical studies. This approach is based on the empirical observation that source amino acids (SAAs) (i.e., phenylalanine), fractionate 15N very little (\u3c 0.5‰) during trophic transfer, whereas trophic AAs (TAAs) (i.e., glutamic acid), are greatly (∼6–8‰) enriched in 15N during each trophic step. The differential fractionation of these two AA groups can provide a valuable estimate of consumer trophic position that is internally indexed to the baseline δ15N value of the integrated food web. In this paper, we critically review the analytical methods for determining the nitrogen isotopic composition of AAs by gas chromatography–isotope-ratio mass spectrometry. We also discuss methodological considerations for accurate trophic position assessment of organisms using CSIA-AA. We then discuss the advantages and challenges of the CSIA-AA approach using published case studies across a range of topics, including trophic position assessment in various ecosystems, reconstruction of ancient human diets, reconstruction of animal migration and environmental variability, and assessment of marine organic matter dynamics with new classification of microbial fractionation patterns. It is clear that the CSIA-AA approach can provide unique insight into the sources, cycling, and trophic modification of organic nitrogen as it flows through systems. However, this approach will be greatly improved through continued exploration into how biochemical, physiological, and ecological mechanisms affect isotopic fractionation of individual AAs. We end this review with a perspective on future work that will promote the evolution of the rapidly growing field of CSIA-AA