Diet and herding strategies in a changing environment: stable isotope analysis of Bronze Age and Late Antique skeletal remains from Ya'amūn, Jordan

Sandias, M. and Müldner, G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4513-9263 (2015) Diet and herding strategies in a changing environment: stable isotope analysis of Bronze Age and Late Antique skeletal remains from Ya'amūn, Jordan. Journal of Archaeological Science, 63. pp. 24-32. ISSN 0305-4403 doi: 10.1016/j.jas.2015.07.009

Abstract/Summary

Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios of 45 human and 23 faunal bone collagen samples were measured to study human diet and the management of domestic herbivores in past Jordan, contrasting skeletal remains from the Middle and Late Bronze Age and the Late Roman and Byzantine periods from the site of Ya'amūn near Irbid. The isotope data demonstrate that the management of the sheep and goats changed over time, with the earlier animals consuming more plants from semi-arid habitats, possibly because of transhumant herding strategies. The isotope data for fish presented here are the first from archaeological contexts from the Southern Levant. Although fish of diverse provenance was available at the site, human diet was predominately based on terrestrial resources and there was little dietary variability within each time-period. Isotopic variation between humans from different time-periods can mostly be explained by ‘baseline shifts’ in the available food sources; however, it is suggested that legumes may have played a more significant role in Middle and Late Bronze Age diet than later on.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/42502
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science > Scientific Archaeology Science > School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science > Department of Archaeology
Uncontrolled Keywords	Carbon and nitrogen isotopes Bone collagen Bronze Age Roman period Byzantine period Fish
Publisher	Elsevier
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