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Journal ArticleDOI

Investigating Identity and Life Histories: Isotopic Analysis and Historical Documentation of Slave Skeletons Found on the Cape Town Foreshore, South Africa

01 Sep 1997-International Journal of Historical Archaeology (Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers)-Vol. 1, Iss: 3, pp 207-224
TL;DR: Isotopic analysis of skeletons excavated during the 1950s has confirmed that they are the remains of shipwreck victims: slaves on board the Portuguese slaving brig Pacquet Real when it sank on 18 May 1818 as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Isotopic analysis of skeletons excavated during the 1950s has confirmed that they are the remains of shipwreck victims: slaves on board the Portuguese slaving brig Pacquet Real when it sank on 18 May 1818. Twenty-five slaves drowned and the remaining 133 became “Prize Negroes” at the Cape. The isotopic signatures are consistent with values expected for people living in an African village eating a terrestrially based diet. Analyses of different skeletal elements, i.e., teeth, long bone, and rib, are shown to be a valuable tool in tracing change or consistency in diet during a person's life, because different skeletal elements form at different stages of life and, subsequently, remodel at different rates. A comparison of isotope ratios from different skeletal elements indicates a change in diet in all these individuals, probably coincident with their enslavement. Variation between individuals in the isotopic composition of diets eaten early in life is sufficiently large to deduce heterogeneous origins for the group.
Citations
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01 Jan 1980
TL;DR: In this article, the influence of diet on the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in animals was investigated by analyzing animals grown in the laboratory on diets of constant nitrogen isotopic composition and found that the variability of the relationship between the δ^(15)N values of animals and their diets is greater for different individuals raised on the same diet than for the same species raised on different diets.
Abstract: The influence of diet on the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in animals was investigated by analyzing animals grown in the laboratory on diets of constant nitrogen isotopic composition. The isotopic composition of the nitrogen in an animal reflects the nitrogen isotopic composition of its diet. The δ^(15)N values of the whole bodies of animals are usually more positive than those of their diets. Different individuals of a species raised on the same diet can have significantly different δ^(15)N values. The variability of the relationship between the δ^(15)N values of animals and their diets is greater for different species raised on the same diet than for the same species raised on different diets. Different tissues of mice are also enriched in ^(15)N relative to the diet, with the difference between the δ^(15)N values of a tissue and the diet depending on both the kind of tissue and the diet involved. The δ^(15)N values of collagen and chitin, biochemical components that are often preserved in fossil animal remains, are also related to the δ^(15)N value of the diet. The dependence of the δ^(15)N values of whole animals and their tissues and biochemical components on the δ^(15)N value of diet indicates that the isotopic composition of animal nitrogen can be used to obtain information about an animal's diet if its potential food sources had different δ^(15)N values. The nitrogen isotopic method of dietary analysis probably can be used to estimate the relative use of legumes vs non-legumes or of aquatic vs terrestrial organisms as food sources for extant and fossil animals. However, the method probably will not be applicable in those modern ecosystems in which the use of chemical fertilizers has influenced the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in food sources. The isotopic method of dietary analysis was used to reconstruct changes in the diet of the human population that occupied the Tehuacan Valley of Mexico over a 7000 yr span. Variations in the δ^(15)C and δ^(15)N values of bone collagen suggest that C_4 and/or CAM plants (presumably mostly corn) and legumes (presumably mostly beans) were introduced into the diet much earlier than suggested by conventional archaeological analysis.

5,548 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Strontium isotope analysis of archaeological skeletons has provided useful and exciting results in archaeology in the last 20 years, particularly by characterizing past human migration and mobility as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Strontium isotope analysis of archaeological skeletons has provided useful and exciting results in archaeology in the last 20 years, particularly by characterizing past human migration and mobility. This review covers the biogeochemical background, including the origin of strontium isotope compositions in rocks, weathering and hydrologic cycles that transport strontium, and biopurification of strontium from to soils, to plants, to animals and finally into the human skeleton, which is subject to diagenesis after burial. Spatial heterogeneity and mixing relations must often be accounted for, rather than simply ``matching'' a measured strontium isotope value to a presumed single-valued geologic source. The successes, limitations and future potential of the strontium isotope technique are illustrated through case studies from geochemistry, biogeochemistry, ecology and archaeology.

947 citations


Cites background from "Investigating Identity and Life His..."

  • ...…prehistoric human migration in studies at Grasshopper Pueblo in Arizona (Ezzo et al., 1997) and of hominins from the Cape region of South Africa (Cox and Sealy, 1997; Sealy et al., 1991, 1995; Sillen and Sealy, 1995; Sillen et al., 1998), Viking-era Iceland (Price and Gestsdóttir, 2006),…...

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  • ...In South Africa, Sillen et al. (1998) found 87Sr/86Sr ratios ranging almost from 0.7 to 0.9 in soils over different geological substrates within a 15 km radius around the Swartkrans early hominid site (Fig....

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  • ...realistic limitations of the technique, but they were also encouragingly successful in characterising prehistoric human migration in studies at Grasshopper Pueblo in Arizona (Ezzo et al., 1997) and of hominins from the Cape region of South Africa (Cox and Sealy, 1997; Sealy et al., 1991, 1995; Sillen and Sealy, 1995; Sillen et al., 1998), Viking-era Iceland (Price and Gestsdóttir, 2006), Tiwanaku in Peru (Knudson et al., 2004), Mayan Teotihuacan (Price et al., 2000), Anglo Saxon England (Montgomery et al., 2005) and Prehistoric Europe (e.g., Bentley et al., 2002; Budd et al., 2004; Grupe et al., 1997; Müller et al., 2003; Price et al., 2001)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The body as a site of lived experience, a social body, and site of embodied agency, is replacing prior static conceptions of an archaeology of the body as public, legible surface as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Under the influence of phenomenological approaches, a semiotic perspective on the body is being replaced in archaeology by analysis of the production and experience of lived bodies in the past through the juxtaposition of traces of body practices, idealized representations, and evidence of the effects of habitual gestures, postures, and consumption practices on the corporal body. On the basis of a shared assumption that social understandings of the body were created and reproduced through associations with material culture, archaeology of the body has proceeded from two theoretical positions: the body as the scene of display and the body as artifact. Today, the body as a site of lived experience, a social body, and site of embodied agency, is replacing prior static conceptions of an archaeology of the body as a public, legible surface.

287 citations


Cites background from "Investigating Identity and Life His..."

  • ...Other routes for archaeological understanding of embodied experience come from the application of biological techniques to reconstruct health, work patterns, and body modifications throughout the life course (Boyd 1996, Cohen & Bennett 1993, Cox & Sealy 1997)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors re-examine the grounds for exclusion of bone apatite as sample material, using case studies drawn from three sites which differ in age and depositional conditions.

282 citations


Cites background from "Investigating Identity and Life His..."

  • ...This distinction presents obvious opportunities for investigation of dietary, and sometimes environmental, patterns during different stages of an individual s life (Cox and Sealy, 1997; Sealy et al., 1995)....

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References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the influence of diet on the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in animals was investigated by analyzing animals grown in the laboratory on diets of constant nitrogen isotopic composition and found that the variability of the relationship between the δ(15)N values of animals and their diets is greater for different individuals raised on the same diet than for the same species raised on different diets.

5,562 citations

01 Jan 1980
TL;DR: In this article, the influence of diet on the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in animals was investigated by analyzing animals grown in the laboratory on diets of constant nitrogen isotopic composition and found that the variability of the relationship between the δ^(15)N values of animals and their diets is greater for different individuals raised on the same diet than for the same species raised on different diets.
Abstract: The influence of diet on the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in animals was investigated by analyzing animals grown in the laboratory on diets of constant nitrogen isotopic composition. The isotopic composition of the nitrogen in an animal reflects the nitrogen isotopic composition of its diet. The δ^(15)N values of the whole bodies of animals are usually more positive than those of their diets. Different individuals of a species raised on the same diet can have significantly different δ^(15)N values. The variability of the relationship between the δ^(15)N values of animals and their diets is greater for different species raised on the same diet than for the same species raised on different diets. Different tissues of mice are also enriched in ^(15)N relative to the diet, with the difference between the δ^(15)N values of a tissue and the diet depending on both the kind of tissue and the diet involved. The δ^(15)N values of collagen and chitin, biochemical components that are often preserved in fossil animal remains, are also related to the δ^(15)N value of the diet. The dependence of the δ^(15)N values of whole animals and their tissues and biochemical components on the δ^(15)N value of diet indicates that the isotopic composition of animal nitrogen can be used to obtain information about an animal's diet if its potential food sources had different δ^(15)N values. The nitrogen isotopic method of dietary analysis probably can be used to estimate the relative use of legumes vs non-legumes or of aquatic vs terrestrial organisms as food sources for extant and fossil animals. However, the method probably will not be applicable in those modern ecosystems in which the use of chemical fertilizers has influenced the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in food sources. The isotopic method of dietary analysis was used to reconstruct changes in the diet of the human population that occupied the Tehuacan Valley of Mexico over a 7000 yr span. Variations in the δ^(15)C and δ^(15)N values of bone collagen suggest that C_4 and/or CAM plants (presumably mostly corn) and legumes (presumably mostly beans) were introduced into the diet much earlier than suggested by conventional archaeological analysis.

5,548 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, Niee's and Solenhofen standards were compared to the Chicago PDB standard for carbon and oxygen isotope ratios, and the correction factors for instrumental effects and for the nature of the mass spectra were derived.

4,071 citations


"Investigating Identity and Life His..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Results are reported as parts per thousand (%o) relative to the internationally accepted Peedee standard, a marine carbonate fossil from the Peedee formation in South Carolina ( Craig, 1953, 1957 )....

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Book
01 Jan 1977
TL;DR: The roots of isotope geology can be found in this paper, where a geology of Neodymium and Strontium in meteorites and Igneous rocks is described.
Abstract: The Roots of Isotope Geology. The Internal Structure of Atoms. Decay Mechanisms of Radioactive Atoms. Radioactive Decay and Growth. Mass Spectrometry. The K-Ar Method of Dating. The 40 Ar/39 Ar Method of Dating. The Rb-Sr Method of Dating. Two-Component Mixtures. Isotope Geology of Strontium in Meteorites and Igneous Rocks. Isotope Geology of Strontium in Sedimentary Rocks. The Sm-Nd Method of Dating. Isotope Geology of Neodymium and Strontium in Igneous Rocks. Isotope Geology of Neodymium in Sedimentary Rocks. The Lu-Hf Method of Dating. The RE-Os Method of Dating. The Re-Os Method of Dating. The K-Ca Method of Dating. The U, Th-Pb Methods of Dating. The Isotope Geology of Lead. The Fission-Track and Other Radiation Damage Methods of Dating. The U-Series Disequilibrium Methods of Dating. Cosmogenic Radionuclides. Cosmogenic Carbon-14 and Tritium. Carbon. Sulfur.

3,386 citations


"Investigating Identity and Life His..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Unlike the stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes described above, there is no alteration in the ratio of 87Sr to 86Sr at higher trophic levels because the mass difference between the two isotopes in question is such a small proportion of their total mass ( Faure, 1986 )....

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Journal ArticleDOI
31 Oct 1985-Nature
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the first examination of the validity of this assumption and show that postmortem alteration of bone collagen isotope ratios does occur, but that it is possible to identify prehistoric bones whose collagen has not undergone such alteration.
Abstract: Since its introduction in 19771, stable isotope analysis of bone collagen has been widely used to reconstruct aspects of prehistoric human and animal diets2–11. This method of dietary analysis is based on two well-established observations, and on an assumption that has never been tested. The first observation is that bone collagen 13C/12C and 15N/14N ratios reflect the corresponding isotope ratio of an animal's diet1–5,12. The second is that groups of foods have characteristically different 13C/12C and/or 15N/14N ratios13,14. Taken together, the two observations indicate that the isotope ratios of collagen in the bones of a living animal reflect the amounts of these groups of foods that the animal ate. Thus, it has been possible to use fresh bone collagen 13C/12C ratios to determine the relative consumption of C3 and C4 plants15–17, while 13C/12C and 15N/14N ratios have been used to distinguish between the use of marine and terrestrial foods14. The 15N/14N ratios of fresh bone collagen probably also reflect the use of leguminous and non-leguminous plants as food5, but this has not yet been demonstrated. Prehistoric consumption of these same groups of foods has been reconstructed from isotope ratios of collagen extracted from fossil bone1–11. Implicit in the application of the isotopic method to prehistoric material is the assumption that bone collagen isotope ratios have not been modified by postmortem processes. Here I present the first examination of the validity of this assumption. The results show that postmortem alteration of bone collagen isotope ratios does occur, but that it is possible to identify prehistoric bones whose collagen has not undergone such alteration.

1,958 citations


"Investigating Identity and Life His..." refers background in this paper

  • ...The majority of research on stable isotopes in archaeological bone has been done on "collagen" or, more correctly, the acid-insoluble protein component of bone (Chisholm et al., 1983; DeNiro, 1985 )....

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