Résumés
Abstract
The stable isotope analysis of preserved proteinaceous tissues, such as bone collagen and hair keratin, offers a powerful means of examining individual dietary practices in archaeology and, through this, inferring the subsistence behaviours, socio-cultural practices, and food preferences of past populations. Previous isotope research at the precontact Yup’ik village site of Nunalleq, Alaska, has provided evidence of a mixed diet of marine and terrestrial foods (but likely dominated by salmonids), but also highlighted some dietary variability amongst the inhabitants of the site. However, materials from the older rescue excavations were insufficient to infer whether this variability was interpersonal and/or diachronic in nature. Here, new stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data from human hair are presented. These were obtained during the research excavations at Nunalleq from temporally constrained, well-stratified contexts. The new data reveal dietary change through time at the site, highlighting changes in resource use and subsistence practices during the Little Ice Age. During the middle phase of occupation at the site (Phase III; cal AD 1620–1650), diet is more varied, most likely relating to the differing relative contribution of salmon versus higher trophic level marine mammal protein to the diet of some individuals at the site. Analysis reveals these differences to be site-spatial, possibly indicating differences with the use of space at the site, and/or hinting at possible social differentiation in diet during Phase III. In the final occupation phase (Phase II; cal AD 1640–1660), diet is more homogeneous and demonstrates an increased exploitation of higher-trophic level marine foods.
Keywords:
- Palaeodiet,
- keratin,
- Alaska,
- precontact,
- hunter-gatherer-fisher,
- marine foragers,
- Yup’ik
Résumé
L’analyse des isotopes stables de tissus préservés riches en protéines, comme le collagène osseux et la kératine capillaire, est une approche puissante d’examiner les pratiques alimentaires individuelles en archéologie et, par conséquent, d’inférer les comportements de subsistance, les pratiques socio-culturelles et les préférences alimentaires des populations passées. Une étude précédente sur les isotopes menée sur le site précontact du village Yup’ik de Nunalleq (Alaska), a mis en évidence un régime alimentaire mixte composé de ressources marines et terrestres (vraisemblablement dominé par les salmonidés), mais également une certaine variabilité alimentaire entre les habitants du site. Toutefois, le matériel provenant des fouilles de sauvetage plus anciennes n’était pas suffisant pour déterminer si cette variabilité était diachronique ou due à des différences inter-individuelles. Nous présentons ici de nouvelles données sur les isotopes stables du carbone et de l’azote provenant de cheveux humains. Celles-ci ont été obtenues à Nunalleq lors de fouilles effectuées en contexte bien stratifié et chronologiquement bien défini. Les nouvelles données révèlent un changement de régime alimentaire au court du temps, mettant en évidence des changements dans les modes de subsistance et l’utilisation des ressources pendant le Petit Âge Glaciaire. Pendant la phase intermédiaire d’occupation du site (phase III ; 1620-50 après J.C. cal), le régime alimentaire est plus varié, très probablement en raison de la variation dans la contribution relative du saumon et des protéines de mammifères marins de niveau trophique supérieur dans l’alimentation de certains individus sur le site. L’analyse révèle que ces différences sont d’ordre spatial, ce qui pourrait indiquer des différences quant à l’utilisation de l’espace sur le site et/ou suggérer une éventuelle différenciation sociale dans l’alimentation pendant la phase III. Lors de la phase finale d’occupation (phase II ; 1640-60 après J.C. cal), le régime alimentaire est plus homogène, révélant une exploitation accrue de ressources d’origine marine de niveau trophique supérieur.
Mots-clés:
- Palaeodiète,
- keratin,
- Alaska,
- précontact,
- chasseur-cueilleur-pêcheur,
- cueilleur marin,
- Yup’ik
Parties annexes
References
- Ambrose, S.H., and L. Norr. 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 Prehistoric Human Bone: Archaeology at the Molecular Level, edited by J.B. Lambert and G. Grupe, 1–37. New York: Springer-Verlag.
- Barker, J.H., and R. Barker. 1993. Always Getting Ready, Upterrlainarluta: Yup’ik Eskimo Subsistence in Southwest Alaska. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
- Betts, M.W. 2008. Subsistence and Culture in the Western Canadian Arctic: A Multicontextual Approach. Gatineau, QC: Canadian Museum of Civilization.
- Branch, N., M. Canti, P. Clark, and C. Turney, eds. 2005. Environmental Archaeology: Theoretical and Practical Approaches. London: Hodder Arnold.
- Britton, K. 2017. “A Stable Relationship: Isotopes and Bioarchaeology are in it for the Long Haul.” Antiquity 91, no. 358: 853–64.
- Britton, K., E. McManus-Fry, O. Nehlich, M.P. Richards, P.M. Ledger, and R.A. Knecht. 2018. “Stable Carbon, Nitrogen and Sulphur Isotope Analysis of Permafrost-Preserved Human Hair from Rescue Excavations (2009, 2010) at the Precontact Site of Nunalleq, Alaska.” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 17:950–63.
- Britton, K., R.A. Knecht, O. Nehlich, C. Hillerdal, R.S. Davis, and M.P. Richards. 2013. “Maritime Adaptations and Dietary Variation in Prehistoric Western Alaska: Stable Isotope Analysis of Permafrost-Preserved Human Hair.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 151: 448–61.
- Coupland, G., T. Clark, and A. Palmer. 2009. “Hierarchy, Communalism, and the Spatial Order of Northwest Coast Plank Houses: A Comparative Study.” American Antiquity 74, no. 1: 77–106.
- DeNiro, M.J., and S. Epstein. 1978. “Influence of Diet on the Distribution of Carbon Isotopes in Animals.” Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 42, no. 5: 495–506.
- DeNiro, M.J., and S. Epstein. 1981. “Influence of Diet on the Distribution of Nitrogen Isotopes in Animals.” Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 45, no. 3: 341–51.
- Fienup-Riordan, A. 1983. The Nelson Island Eskimo: Social Structure and Ritual Distribution. Anchorage: Pacific University Press.
- Fienup-Riordan, A., and A. Rearden. 2012. Ellavut/Our Yup’ik World and Weather: Continuity and Change on the Bering Sea Coast. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
- Fienup-Riordan, A., and A. Rearden. 2016. Anguyiim Nalliini/Time Warring: The History of Bow-and-Arrow Warfare in Southwest Alaska. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press.
- Fitzhugh, W.W., and S.A. Kaplan. 1982. Inua: Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.
- Forbes, V., P.M. Ledger, D. Cretu, and S. Elias. 2019. “A Sub-centennial, Little Ice Age Climate Reconstruction Using Beetle Subfossil Data from Nunalleq, Southwestern Alaska.” Quaternary International, corrected proof available online July 8, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2019.07.011.
- Froehle, A.W., C.M. Kellner, and M.J. Schoeninger. 2010. “FOCUS: Effect of Diet and Protein Source on Carbon Stable Isotope Ratios in Collagen: Follow-Up to Warinner and Tuross (2009).” Journal of Archaeological Science 37, no. 10: 2662–70.
- Gigleux, C., V. Grimes, T. Tütken, R. Knecht, and K. Britton. 2019. “Reconstructing Caribou Seasonal Biogeography in Little Ice Age (Late Holocene) Western Alaska Using Intra-Tooth Strontium and Oxygen Isotope Analysis.” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 23: 1043–54.
- Gombay, N. 2009. “Sharing or Commoditising? A Discussion of Some of the Socio-Economic Implications of Nunavik’s Hunter Support Program.” Polar Record 45, no. 2: 119–32.
- Grier, C. 2016. “Temporality in Northwest Coast Households.” In Household Archaeology on the Northwest Coast, edited by E.A. Sobel, D.A.T. Gahr, and K.M. Ames, 97–119. New York: Berghahn Books.
- Gumerman, G. 1997. “Food and Complex Societies.” Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 4, no. 2: 105–39.
- Hastorf, C.A. 2016. The Social Archaeology of Food: Thinking about Eating from Prehistory to the Present. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Hedges, R.E.M., J.G. Clement, C.D.L. Thomas, and T.C. O’Connell. 2007. “Collagen Turnover in the Adult Femoral Mid-Shaft: Modeled from Anthropogenic Radiocarbon Tracer Measurements.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 133, no. 2: 808–16.
- Hedges, R.E.M., J.M.A. Thompson, and B.D. Hull. 2005. “Stable Isotope Variation in Wool as a Means to Establish Turkish Carpet Provenance.” Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 19, no. 22: 3187–91.
- Hu, F.S., E. Ito, T.A. Brown, B.B. Curry, and D.R. Engstrom. 2001. “Pronounced Climatic Variations in Alaska during the Last Two Millennia.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 98, no. 19: 10552–56.
- Knüsel, C.J., C.M. Batt, G. Cook, J. Montgomery, G. Müldner, A.R. Ogden, C. Palmer, B. Stern, J. Todd, and A.S. Wilson. 2010. “The Identity of the St Bees Lady, Cumbria: An Osteobiographical Approach”. Medieval Archaeology 54, no. 1: 271–311.
- Kurtz, J. 1985. “The Bow and Arrow Wars: Warfare between the Yukon and Coastal Eskimos. The Magagmiut: Warriors of the Coast.” Unpublished manuscript.
- Lamb, A.L. 2016. “Stable Isotope Analysis of Soft Tissues from Mummified Human Remains.” Environmental Archaeology 21, no. 3: 271–84.
- Ledger, P.M., V. Forbes, E. Masson-MacLean, C. Hillerdal, W.D. Hamilton, E. McManus-Fry, A. Jorge, K. Britton, and R.A. Knecht. 2018. “Three Generations under One Roof?: Bayesian Modeling of Radiocarbon Data from Nunalleq, Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska.” American Antiquity 83, no. 3: 1–20.
- Mann, M.E. 2007. “Climate over the Past Two Millennia.” Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 35: 111–36.
- Masson-MacLean, E., C. Houmard, K. Dobney, I. Sidéra, R. Knecht, and K. Britton. 2019. Pre-Contact Adaptations to the Little Ice Age in Southwest Alaska: New Evidence from the Nunalleq Site (15th–17th C. AD). Quaternary International, corrected proof available online May 3, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2019.05.003.
- Masson-MacLean, E., E. McManus-Fry, and K. Britton. 2020. “The Archaeology of Dogs at the Precontact Site of Nunalleq, Western Alaska.” In Dogs: Archaeology Beyond Domestication, edited by G. Bethke, and A. Burtt. Gainesville: University of Florida Press.
- McManus-Fry, E. 2015. “Pre-Contact Ecology, Subsistence and Diet on the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta.” PhD diss., University of Aberdeen.
- McManus-Fry, E., R.A. Knecht, K. Dobney, M.P. Richards, and K. Britton. 2018. “Dog–Human Dietary Relationships in Yup’ik Western Alaska: The Stable Isotope and Zooarchaeological Evidence from Pre-Contact Nunalleq.” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 17: 964–72.
- Mintz, S.W., and C.M. DuBois. 2002. “The Anthropology of Food and Eating.” Annual Review of Anthropology 31: 99–119.
- O’Connell, T.C., and R.E. Hedges. 1999. “Investigations into the Effect of Diet on Modern Human Hair Isotopic Values.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 108, no. 4: 409–25.
- O’Connell, T.C., R.E.M. Hedges, M.A. Healey, and A.H.R.W. Simpson. 2001. “Isotopic Comparison of Hair, Nail and Bone: Modern Analyses.” Journal of Archaeological Science 28, no. 11: 1247–55.
- Rasmussen, M., Y.R. Li, S. Lindgreen, J.S. Pedersen, A. Albrechtsen, I. Moltke, M. Metspalu, et al. 2010. “Ancient Human Genome Sequence of an Extinct Palaeo-Eskimo.” Nature 463: 757–62.
- Rasmussen, M., X.S. Guo, Y. Wang, K.E. Lohmueller, S. Rasmussen, A. Albrechtsen, L. Skotte, et al. 2011. “An Aboriginal Australian Genome Reveals Separate Human Dispersals into Asia.” Science 334, no. 6052: 94–98.
- Richards, M.P., P.B. Pettitt, M.C. Stiner, and E. Trinkaus. 2001. “Stable Isotope Evidence for Increasing Dietary Breadth in the European Mid-Upper Paleolithic.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 98, no. 11: 6528–32.
- Samuel, D. 1996. “Approaches to the Archaeology of Food.” Petits Propos Culinaires 54: 12–21.
- Schoeninger, M.J., and M.J. DeNiro. 1984. “Nitrogen and Carbon Isotopic Composition of Bone Collagen from Marine and Terrestrial Animals.” Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 48:615–39.
- Skillin, K. 2016. “Splitting Hairs: Testing and Feasibility of Light Microcopy Use on the Identification of Archaeological Cold-Preserved Fur and Hair.” MSc Thesis, University of Aberdeen.
- Smith, M.L. 2006. “The Archaeology of Food Preference.” American Anthropologist 108, no. 3: 480–93.
- Spray Starks, Z. 2001. “Memories of a Vanishing Eskimo Cuisine.” In Food and the Memory: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2000, edited by H. Walker, 261–72. London: Prospect Books.
- Spray Starks, Z. 2007. “Arctic Foodways and Contemporary Cuisine.” Gastronomica 7, no. 1: 41–49.
- Valkovic, V. 1977. Trace Elements in Human Hair. New York: Garland STPM Press.
- Von Holstein, I.C., P.W. Rogers, O.E. Craig, K.E. Penkman, J. Newton, and M.J. Collins. 2016. “Provenancing Archaeological Wool Textiles from Medieval Northern Europe by Light Stable Isotope Analysis (δ13C, δ15N, δ2H).” PLoS ONE 11, no. 10: e0162330. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0162330.
- Warinner, C., and N. Tuross. 2009. “Alkaline Cooking and Stable Isotope Tissue-Diet Spacing in Swine: Archaeological Implications.” Journal of Archaeological Science 36, no. 8: 1690–97.