Finding Mycenaeans in Minoan Crete? Isotope and DNA analysis of human mobility in Bronze Age Crete.

We undertook a large-scale study of Neolithic and Bronze Age human mobility on Crete using biomolecular methods (isotope analysis, DNA), with a particular focus on sites dating to the Late Bronze Age ('Late Minoan') period. We measured the strontium and sulphur isotope values of animal remains from archaeological sites around the island of Crete to determine the local baseline values. We then measured the strontium and sulphur values of humans from Late Neolithic and Bronze Age sites. Our results indicate that most of the humans have sulphur and strontium isotope values consistent with being local to Crete, showing no evidence for a wide-scale movement of people from the Greek mainland or other areas away from Crete in these time periods. However, we found four individuals from the late Bronze Age (Late Minoan III) cemetery of Armenoi with sulphur isotope values not typically found in Crete and are instead consistent with an origin elsewhere. This cemetery at Armenoi also has one of only a few examples of the newly adopted Mycenaean Linear B script on Crete found outside of the palace sites, pointing to an influence (trade and possible migration) from the mainland, which may then be the place of origin of these four individuals. DNA (mtDNA) studies of eight Late Bronze Age individuals from Armenoi have results consistent with people living in Aegean region at this time and cannot be used to distinguish between individuals from Crete ('Minoans') and the Greek mainland ['Mycenaeans']).

2000 years of parallel societies in Stone Age Central Europe.

Debate on the ancestry of Europeans centers on the interplay between Mesolithic foragers and Neolithic farmers. Foragers are generally believed to have disappeared shortly after the arrival of agriculture. To investigate the relation between foragers and farmers, we examined Mesolithic and Neolithic samples from the Blätterhöhle site. Mesolithic mitochondrial DNA sequences were typical of European foragers, whereas the Neolithic sample included additional lineages that are associated with early farmers. However, isotope analyses separate the Neolithic sample into two groups: one with an agriculturalist diet and one with a forager and freshwater fish diet, the latter carrying mitochondrial DNA sequences typical of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. This indicates that the descendants of Mesolithic people maintained a foraging lifestyle in Central Europe for more than 2000 years after the arrival of farming societies.

Investigation of diachronic dietary patterns on the islands of Ibiza and Formentera, Spain: evidence from sulfur stable isotope ratio analysis.

We present sulfur isotope ratio measurements of bone collagen from animals (n = 75) and humans (n = 120) from five sites dating to four chronological periods (Chalcolithic, Punic, Late Antiquity-Early Byzantine, and Islamic) from the Balearic Islands of Ibiza and Formentera, Spain. This study is a follow up to previously published δ(13)C and δ(15)N values by [Fuller et al.: Am J Phys Anthropol 143 (2010) 512-522] and focuses on using δ(34)S values to better understand the dietary patterns of these populations through time and to possibly identify immigrants to these islands. The range of δ(34)S values (10.5-17.8‰) observed for the animals was relatively broad, which suggests that a significant sea spray effect has added marine sulfates to the soils of Formentera and Ibiza. The mean δ(34)S values of the different human populations were found to be: Chalcolithic (16.5 ± 1.4‰), Punic rural (13.6 ± 1.7‰), Punic urban (12.9 ± 1.8‰), Late Antiquity-Early Byzantine (12.3 ± 2.1‰), and Islamic (9.1 ± 2.7‰). These human δ(34)S results are similar to the animal data, a finding that supports the notion that there was little marine protein consumption by these societies and that the diet was mainly based on terrestrial resources. During the Punic and Late Antiquity-Early Byzantine periods the δ(34)S values were used to identify individuals in the population who likely were not born or raised on the islands. In addition, 18 of the 20 individuals analyzed from the Islamic period have δ(34)S values that indicate that they were immigrants to Ibiza who died before acquiring the new local sulfur isotopic signature.

Multi-isotopic analysis reveals individual mobility and diet at the Early Iron Age monumental tumulus of Magdalenenberg, Germany.

For the Early Iron Age western Hallstatt culture, which includes the site of Magdalenenberg in southwest Germany, it has been proposed that people were mobile and maintained far reaching social and trading networks throughout Europe. We tested this hypothesis by analyzing multiple isotopes (strontium, oxygen, sulfur, carbon, and nitrogen) of the preserved skeletons from the Magdalenenberg elite cemetery to determine diets and to look for evidence of mobility. The analysis of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur isotope ratios in collagen of humans (n = 50) and associated domestic fauna (n = 10) indicates a terrestrial-based diet. There was a heterogeneous range of isotope values in both strontium (0.70725 to 0.71923, n = 76) and oxygen (13.4‰ to 18.5‰, n = 78) measured in tooth enamel. Although many of the individuals had values consistent with being from Hallstatt culture sites within southwest Germany, some individuals likely originated from further afield. Possible areas include the Alps of Switzerland and Austria or even locations in Italy. Our study strongly supports the assumption of far reaching social and economic networks in the western Hallstatt culture.

Stable isotope dietary analysis of the Tianyuan 1 early modern human.

We report here on the isotopic analysis of the diet of one of the oldest modern humans found in Eurasia, the Tianyuan 1 early modern human dating to approximately 40,000 calendar years ago from Tianyuan Cave (Tianyuandong) in the Zhoukoudian region of China. Carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of the human and associated faunal remains indicate a diet high in animal protein, and the high nitrogen isotope values suggest the consumption of freshwater fish. To confirm this inference, we measured the sulfur isotope values of terrestrial and freshwater animals around the Zhoukoudian area and of the Tianyuan 1 human, which also support the interpretation of a substantial portion of the diet from freshwater fish. This analysis provides the direct evidence for the consumption of aquatic resources by early modern humans in China and has implications for early modern human subsistence and demography.