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Ref ID: 30160
Ref Type: Journal Article
Authors: Bocherens, Hervé
Mashkour, Marjan
Drucker, Dorothée G.
Moussa, Issam
Billiou, Daniel
Title: Stable isotope evidence for palaeodiets in southern Turkmenistan during Historical period and Iron Age
Date: 2006
Source: Journal of Archaeological Science
Abstract: The subsistence patterns of Iron Age and Historical period humans from south-western Turkmenistan have been reconstructed using the carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions of archaeological faunal and human bones. A qualitative comparison of the isotopic signatures points to a small proportion of ruminant meat and dairy in human diet for both periods. The ranges of proportions of dietary items yielded by a quantitative approach based on concentration dependent mixing models confirm the high proportions of plant food in the average diet, and show little change in the reconstructed diet for both periods. A comparison of results from zooarchaeological and isotopic approaches illustrates their complementarity in subsistence patterns reconstruction.
Date Created: 1/4/2007
Volume: 33
Number: 2
Page Start: 253
Page End: 264