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Reconstructing Subsistence Practices Of Southwestern Ontario Late Woodland Peoples (A.D. 900-1600) Using Stable Isotopic Analyses Of Faunal Material, Zoe H. Morris

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Stable carbon–, nitrogen–, and oxygen–isotope analyses of animal bones and teeth from 28 archaeological sites are used to reconstruct human subsistence behaviour, i.e., increased maize horticulturalism, during the Late Woodland period (A.D. 1000–1650) in southwestern Ontario. The isotopic data provided dietary, seasonal, and geographic information, which was analysed within archaeological, symbolic, and ecological contexts and used to reconstruct the diets, hunting patterns, and animal processing practices of two neighbouring groups, the Ontario Iroquoian and Western Basin peoples.

Paleodietary and seasonality analyses focused on the following species: canids (domestic dogs, foxes, and wolves), wild turkeys and white-tailed deer, though additional fauna …

Exploring The Movement Of People In Postclassic And Historic Period Lamanai Using Stable Isotopes, Alicia E. Donis

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The location of the Maya site of Lamanai on the New River Lagoon in northern Belize strategically situated it to participate in both coastal and inland trade routes and communication. This study of human burials at Lamanai examines the phosphate-oxygen isotope compositions of bone and enamel, which reflect drinking water and hence climatic zones, oxygen- and hydrogen-isotope compositions of modern local water, which provide a baseline for drinking water, and carbon- and nitrogen-isotope compositions of bone collagen, which reflect diet. The combination of isotopic, mortuary, osteological, and artifactual data is used to explore mobility at Lamanai during the Postclassic and …

A Multi-Isotope Investigation Of Two Medieval German Populations: Insight Into The Relationship Among Diet, Disease, And Tissue Isotopic Compositions, Karyn C. Olsen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis investigates the relationship between disease and bone collagen isotope compositions, and uses isotopic analyses of human and faunal bone to examine the diet and geographic associations of two medieval (9th to 16th century) German communities derived from urban (Regensburg, n=111) and rural (Dalheim, n=24) contexts.

The first goal of this research was to determine the reliability of bone collagen isotopic compositions to characterize diet in unhealthy individuals. Examples of bone pathology were selected from two medieval samples and one modern/historic skeletal collection (n=49) in order to measure the extent to which pathology influences intra-skeletal isotopic variability. The carbon- …