Improving chronologies bases on radiocarbon dating of bones: Isotopic indications of reservoir age and diet.

• Applicant: Professor Pieter M. Grootes, Ph.D., since 10/2013
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: from 2009 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 128737483

Accurate chronologies are needed to interpret regional differences in monumentality and variations in the chronologies of microregions of the Neolithic Funnelbeaker culture that created monumentality. Yet, some human bones may provide a “fictitiously” older chronology, resulting from an aquatic diet, that is, a dietary reservoir effect. Unfortunately, aquatic reservoir ages, especially in freshwater contexts, are highly variable making bone ages uncertain. Fish and shellfish differ from terrestrial food sources in 14C, but also in stable isotope composition (e.g. 13C/12C and 15N/14N), which may be used under a multi-isotopic-proxy approach to estimate the intake of aquatic foods, and be combined with knowledge of local reservoir effects to obtain more reliable radiocarbon ages. An alternative approach to the challenge of human dietary reservoir effects consists of the radiocarbon dating of multiple bone fractions (e.g. collagen, bioapatite, amino acids) that reflect different dietary pathways and by exploring the compositional differences of aquatic and terrestrial food groups. The goal of this project is to find a reliable set of methods to evaluate the magnitude of a dietary reservoir effect due to an aquatic diet without the need to date associated finds, which are often not available, and, eventually, correct for it. This will lead to more reliable chronologies, as well as to a better comparison of contemporaneous social and cultural development in different regions, and to improved interpretation of their implications for the social and cultural structures of Neolithic communities.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1400: Early Monumentality and Social Differentiation. The Origin and Development of Neolithic Large-Scale Buildings and the Earliest Complex Societies in Northern Central Europe
• Major Instrumentation: Preparative-HPLC (High Pressure Liquid Chromatography) system
• Instrumentation Group: 1350 Flüssigkeits-Chromatographen (außer Aminosäureanalysatoren 317), Ionenaustauscher
• Participating Persons: Dr. Nils Andersen; Dr. Matthias Hüls
• Ehemalige Antragstellerin: Marie-Josee Nadeau, Ph.D., until 10/2013