Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T14:31:28.327Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Use of Three Isotopes to Calibrate Human Bone Radiocarbon Determinations from Kainapirina (SAC), Watom Island, Papua New Guinea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Fiona Petchey  and
Roger Green
Fiona Petchey*
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, School of Science and Engineering, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand
Roger Green
Affiliation:
Anthropology Department, University of Auckland, New Zealand
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

In archaeological dating, the greatest confidence is usually placed upon radiocarbon results of material that can be directly related to a defined archaeological event. Human bone should fulfill this requirement, but bone dates obtained from Pacific sites are often perceived as problematic due to the incorporation of 14C from a range of different reservoirs into the collagen via diet. In this paper, we present new human bone gelatin results for 2 burials from the SAC archaeological site on Watom Island, Papua New Guinea, and investigate the success of calibrating these determinations using dietary corrections obtained from δ34S, δ15N, and δ13C isotopes.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , 2005 , pp. 181 - 192
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

Ambrose, SH. 1993. Isotopic analysis of paleodiets: methodological and interpretive considerations. In: Sandford, MK, editor. Elemental and Isotopic Analyses: Understanding Diet and Disease in Past Populations. New York: Gordon and Breach Science Publishers. p 59–130.Google Scholar
Ambrose, SH, Norr, L. 1993. Experimental evidence for the relationship of the carbon isotope ratios of whole diet and dietary protein to those of bone collagen and carbonate. In: Malbert, JB, Grupe, G, editors. Prehistoric Human Bone: Archaeology at the Molecular Level. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. p 1–38.Google Scholar
Anderson, A, Clark, G. 1999. The age of Lapita settlement in Fiji. Archaeology in Oceania 34:31–9.Google Scholar
Arneborg, J, Heinemeier, N, Lynnerup, HL, Nielsen, N, Sveinbjörnsdóttir, ÁE. 1999. Change of diet of the Greenland Vikings determined from stable carbon isotope analysis and 14C dating of their bones. Radiocarbon 41(2):157–68.Google Scholar
Anson, D. 2000. Reber-Rakival dentate-stamped motifs: documentation and comparative implications. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology 20(1998):119–35.Google Scholar
Bayliss, A, Sheppard Popescu, E, Beavan Athfield, N, Bronk Ramsey, C, Cook, GT, Locker, A. 2004. The potential significance of dietary offsets for the interpretation of radiocarbon dates: an archaeologically significant example from medieval Norwich. Journal of Archaeological Science 31:563–75.Google Scholar
Ben-David, M, Schell, DM. 2001. Mixing models in analysis of diet using multiple stable isotopes: a response. Oecologia 127:180–4.Google Scholar
Best, S. 2002. Lapita: A View from the East. Dunedin North: New Zealand Archaeological Association Monograph 24.Google Scholar
Bonsall, C, Cook, GT, Hedges, REM, Higham, TFG, Pickard, C, Radovanović, I. 2004. Radiocarbon and stable isotope evidence of dietary change from the Mesolithic to the Middle Ages in the Iron Gates: new results from Lepenski Vir. Radiocarbon 46(1):293–300.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 1995. Radiocarbon calibration and analysis of stratigraphy: the OxCal program. Radiocarbon 37(2):425–30.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2001. Development of the radiocarbon calibration program. Radiocarbon 43(2A):355–63.Google Scholar
Cook, GT, Bonsall, C, Hedges, REM, McSweeney, K, Boroneant, V, Pettitt, PB. 2001. A freshwater diet-derived 14C reservoir effect at the Stone Age sites in the Iron Gates Gorge. Radiocarbon 43(2A):453–60.Google Scholar
Cook, GT, Bonsall, C, Hedges, REM, McSweeney, K, Boroneant, V, Bartosiewicz, L, Pettitt, PB. 2002. Problems of dating human bones from the Iron Gates. Antiquity 76:77–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fogel, ML, Tuross, N. 2003. Extending the limits of paleodietary studies of humans with compound specific carbon isotope analysis of amino acids. Journal of Archaeological Science 30:535–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gosden, C, Allen, J, Ambrose, W, Anson, D, Golson, J, Green, R, Kirch, P, Lilley, I, Specht, J, Spriggs, M. 1989. Lapita sites of the Bismarck archipelago. Antiquity 63:561–86.Google Scholar
Green, RC. 1979. Lapita. In: Jennings, JD, editor. The Prehistory of Polynesia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. p 27–60.Google Scholar
Green, RC. 1996. Prehistoric transfers of portable items during the Lapita horizon in remote Oceania: a review. Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association Bulletin 15:119–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, RC, Anson, D. 2000. Excavations at Kainapirina (SAC), Watom Island, Papua New Guinea. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology 20(1998):29–94.Google Scholar
Green, RC, Anson, D, Specht, J. 1989. The SAC burial ground, Watom Island, Papua New Guinea. Records of the Australian Museum 41:215–21.Google Scholar
Heaton, THE. 1987. The 15N/14N ratios of plants in South Africa and Namibia: relationship to climate and coastal/saline environments. Oecologia 74:236–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heaton, THE, Vogel, JC, Chevallarie, G, Collett, G. 1986. Climatic influence on the isotopic composition of bone nitrogen. Nature 322:822–3.Google Scholar
Hobson, KA. 1999. Tracing origins and migration of wildlife using stable isotopes: a review. Oecologia 120:314–26.Google Scholar
Hobson, KA, Clark, RG. 1992. Assessing avian diets using stable isotopes II: factors influencing diet-tissue fractionation. Condor 94:189–97.Google Scholar
Hobson, KA, Collier, S. 1984. Marine and terrestrial protein in Australian Aboriginal diets. Current Anthropology 25:238–40.Google Scholar
Horward, M. 1988. Trace elements and prehistoric diet in the Pacific: a study of six human groups from bone strontium, zinc and magnesium concentrations [unpublished MA thesis]. Otago: Department of Anthropology, University of Otago.Google Scholar
Hughen, KA, Baillie, MGL, Bard, E, Beck, JW, Bertrand, CJH, Blackwell, PG, Buck, CE, Burr, GS, Cutler, KB, Damon, PE, Edwards, RL, Fairbanks, RG, Friedrich, M, Guilderson, TP, Kromer, B, McCormac, G, Manning, S, Bronk Ramsey, C, Reimer, PJ, Reimer, RW, Remmele, S, Southon, JR, Stuiver, M, Talamo, S, Taylor, FW, van der Plicht, J, Weyhenmeyer, CE. 2004. Marine04 marine radiocarbon age calibration, 0–26 cal kyr BP. Radiocarbon 46(3):1059–86.Google Scholar
Kirch, PV, Swindler, DR, Turner, CG II. 1989. Human skeletal and dental remains from Lapita sites (1600–500 BC) in the Mussau Islands, Melanesia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 79:104–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lanting, JN, van der Plicht, J. 1998. Reservoir effects and apparent 14C ages. The Journal of Irish Archaeology IX:151–65.Google Scholar
Leach, BF, Quinn, CJ, Lyon, GL. 1996. A stochastic approach to the reconstruction of prehistoric human diet in the Pacific region from bone isotope signatures. Tuhinga, Records of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 8:1–54.Google Scholar
Leach, BF, Quinn, CJ, Lyon, GL, Haystead, A, Myers, DB. 2000. Evidence of prehistoric Lapita diet at Watom Island, Papua New Guinea, using stable isotopes. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology 20(1998):149–59.Google Scholar
Leach, BF, Quinn, C, Morrison, J, Lyon, G. 2003. The use of multiple isotope signatures in reconstructing prehistoric human diet from archaeological bone from the Pacific and New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology 23(2001):31–98.Google Scholar
Lentfer, CJ, Green, RC. 2003. Phytoliths and the evidence for banana cultivation at the Lapita Reber-Rakival site on Watom Island, Papua New Guinea. In: Attenbrow, V, Fullagar, R, editors. A Pacific Odyssey: Archaeology and Anthropology in the Western Pacific. Papers in Honour of Jim Specht. Records of the Australian Museum, Supplement 29:75–88.Google Scholar
Longin, R. 1971. New method of collagen extraction for radiocarbon dating. Nature 230:241–2.Google Scholar
Pate, FD, Brodie, R, Owen, TD. 2002. Determination of geographic origin of unprovenanced Aboriginal skeletal remains in South Australia employing stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis. Australian Archaeology 55:1–7.Google Scholar
Petchey, F. 1998. Radiocarbon analysis of a novel bone sample type: snapper and barracouta bone from New Zealand archaeological sites [PhD dissertation]. Waikato: University of Waikato.Google Scholar
Petchey, F, Phelan, M, White, P. 2004. New ΔR values for the southwest Pacific Ocean. Radiocarbon 46(2):1005–14.Google Scholar
Petchey, F, Higham, TFG. 2000. Bone diagenesis and radiocarbon dating of fish bone at the Shag River Mouth site, New Zealand. Journal of Archaeological Science 27:135–50.Google Scholar
Phillips, DL, Gregg, JW. 2001. Uncertainty in source partitioning using stable isotopes. Oecolgia 127:171–9.Google Scholar
Pietrusewsky, M. 1989. A study of skeletal and dental remains from Watom Island and comparisons with other Lapita people. Records of the Australian Museum 41(3):235–92.Google Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Baillie, MGL, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Bertrand, CJH, Blackwell, PG, Buck, CE, Burr, GS, Cutler, KB, Damon, PE, Edwards, RL, Fairbanks, RG, Friedrich, M, Guilderson, TP, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kromer, B, McCormac, G, Manning, S, Bronk Ramsey, C, Reimer, RW, Remmele, S, Southon, JR, Stuiver, M, Talamo, S, Taylor, FW, van der Plicht, J, Weyhenmeyer, CE. 2004. IntCal04 terrestrial radiocarbon age calibration, 0–26 cal kyr BP. Radiocarbon 46(3):1029–58.Google Scholar
Richards, MP, van Klinken, GJ. 1997. A survey of European human bone stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values. In: Sinclair, AGM, Slater, EA, Gowlett, JAJ, editors. Archaeological Sciences 1995. Oxford: Oxbow Monograph 64. p 363–8.Google Scholar
Richards, MP, Fuller, BT, Hedges, REM. 2001. Sulphur isotopic variation in ancient bone collagen from Europe: implications for human paleodiet, residence mobility, and modern pollutant studies. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 191:185–90.Google Scholar
Schoeninger, MJ, DeNiro, MJ, Tauber, H. 1983. Stable nitrogen isotope ratios of bone collagen reflect marine and terrestrial components of prehistoric human diet. Science 220:1381–3.Google Scholar
Schulting, RJ, Richards, MP. 2002. Finding the coastal Mesolithic in southwest Britain: AMS dates and stable isotope results on human remains from Caldey Island, South Wales. Antiquity 76:1011–25.Google Scholar
Specht, JR. 1968. Preliminary report on excavations on Watom Island. Journal of the Polynesian Society 77:117–34.Google Scholar
Specht, JR. 2003. Watom Island and Lapita: observations on the Reber-Rakival localities. In: Sand, C, editor. Pacific Archaeology: Assessments and Prospects. Proceedings of the International Conference for the 50th anniversary of the first Lapita excavation. Koné-Nouméa 2002. p 122–34.Google Scholar
Spriggs, MJT. 1990. Dating Lapita: another view. In: Spriggs, M, editor. Lapita Design Form and Composition. Proceedings of the Lapita Design Workshop, Canberra, Australia, December 1988. Occasional Papers in Prehistory 19. Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, Canberra. p 6–27.Google Scholar
Spriggs, MJT. 1996. Chronology and colonization in island Southeast Asia and the Pacific: new data and an evaluation. In: Davidson, J, Irwin, G, Leach, F, Pawley, A, Brown, D, editors. Oceanic Culture History: Essays in Honour of Roger Green. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology Special Publication.Google Scholar
Spriggs, MJT. 2001. Who cares what time it is? The importance of chronology in Pacific archaeology. In: Anderson, A, Lilley, I, O'Connor, S, editors. Histories of Old Ages: Essays in Honour of Rhys Jones. Canberra: Pandanus Books, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, ANU. p 237–49.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Reimer, PJ, Braziunas, S. 1998. High precision radiocarbon age calibration for terrestrial and marine samples. Radiocarbon 40(3):1127–51.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Reimer, PJ, Bard, E, Beck, JW, Burr, GS, Hughen, KA, Kromer, B, McCormac, FG, van der Plicht, J, Spurk, M. 1998. IntCal98 radiocarbon age calibration, 24,000-0 cal AD. Radiocarbon 40(3):1041–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Summerhayes, GR. 2001. Defining the chronology of Lapita in the Bismarck archipelago. In: Clark, GR, Anderson, AJ, Vunidilo, T, editors. The Archaeology of Lapita Dispersal in Oceania. Papers from the Fourth Lapita Conference, June 2000. Canberra: Pandanus Books, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, ANU. p 25–38.Google Scholar
Tieszen, LL, Fagre, T. 1993. Effect of diet quality and composition on the isotopic composition of respiratory CO2, bone collagen, bioapatite and soft tissues. In: Malbert, JB, Grupe, G, editors. Prehistoric Human Bone: Archaeology at the Molecular Level. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. p 121–55.Google Scholar
van Klinken, GJ. 1999. Bone collagen quality indicators for paleodietary and radiocarbon measurement. Journal of Archaeological Science 26:687–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Klinken, GJ, Hedges, REM. 1995. Experiments on collagen-humic interactions: speed of humic uptake, and effects of diverse chemical treatments. Journal of Archaeological Science 22:263–70.Google Scholar
van Klinken, GJ, van der Plicht, H, Hedges, REM. 1994. Bone 13C/12C ratios reflect (paleo-)climatic variations. Geophysical Research Letters 21(6):445–8.Google Scholar