Almond, Matthew

Bull, Ian D.

Evershed, Richard P.

Matthews, Wendy

Shillito, Lisa-Marie

William, James M.

English

Suspected coprolites from midden, burial and room fill contexts at Catalhoyuk were analysed by GC/MS and thin section micromorphology. Assessment of sterol biomarkers enabled a distinction between faecal and non-faecal sources for the deposits to be made, with bile acid biomarkers indicating that many of the faecal deposits are human coprolites. The relative lack of ruminant faeces could be due to this material being used as a fuel source. Deposits in burials were observed to contain soil and plant derived sterols rather than their faecal counterparts. Further analysis in thin section enabled identification of associated materials and contents. Diagnostic inclusions such as bone and plant fragments were only present in some of the human coprolites, which were observed to have a very similar morphology to decayed plant remains. This study illustrates the difficulties in distinguishing coprolites in the field and under the microscope, and demonstrates the importance of integrating biogeochemical methods, particularly when such deposits are used as the basis for interpreting human health and diet, and use-of-space in settlements. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.</p

Almond, Matthew J.

Williams, James M.

Explore Bristol Research

Biomolecular and micromorphological analysis of suspected faecal deposits at Neolithic Catalhoyuk, Turkey

Central Archive at the University of Reading

Absolute Dating at Çatalhöyük. Changing Materialities at Çatalhöyük: Reports from the 1995 -

Assessment of faecal sterols and ketone as indicators of urban sewage inputs to coastal waters.

Bile acids as a new class of sewage pollution indicator.

Biomarker evidence of faecal deposition in archaeological sediments at Çatalhöyük, Turkey. Inhabiting Çatalhöyük: Reports from the 1995-1999 seasons. I. Hodder (ed) London, McDonald Institute for Archaeology/British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara.

Çatalhöyük Mammal Remains. Inhabiting Çatalhöyük: reports from the 1995-99 seasons. I. Hodder (ed) Cambridge,

Contextual analysis of the use of space at two Near Eastern Bronze Age sites. http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/projArch/TellBrak/

Early anthropogenic soil formation at Tofts Ness, Sanday, Orkey.

Handbook for thin section description. WAINE Research Publications.

Macro-botanical evidence for plant use at Neolithic Çatalhöyük south-central Anatolia, Turkey. Vegetation History and

Mellaart Area Çatalhöyük Archive Report

Micromorphology and Plant Macrofossil Analysis of Cattle Dung from the Neolithic Lake Shore Settlement of

Muck 'n' molecules: Organic geochemical methods for detecting ancient manuring.

Multi-analytical techniques for the study of preColumbian mummies and related funerary materials,

Response to comment by Goldberg et al. on “DNA from Pre-Clovis human coprolites in Oregon,

Soils and Micromorphology in Archaeology. Cambridge,

The Leopard's Tale: Revealing the Mysteries of Çatalhöyük. Thames and Hudson.

The origin of faeces by means of biomarker detection.

Biomolecular and micromorphological analysis of suspected faecal deposits at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey

Biomolecular and micromorphological analysis of suspected faecal deposits at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Explore Bristol Research

Central Archive at the University of Reading

Crossref