Asian Perspectives: Journal of Archaeology for Asia & the Pacific: Reconstructing Human Subsistence in the West Mouth (Niah Cave, Sarawak) Burial Series Using Stable Isotopes of Carbon.2005, Reconstructing Human Subsistence subsistence, n the state of being supported or remaining alive with a minimum of essentials. in the West Mouth (Niah Cave, Sarawak) Burial Series Using Stable Isotopes stable isotope n. An isotope of an element that shows no tendency to undergo radioactive breakdown. of Carbon. Asian Perspectives: Journal of Archaeology for Asia & the Pacific, Vol. 44, Issue 1, 73-89. The human burial series from the West Mouth of Niah Cave (Sarawak, Malaysia) offers a unique opportunity to explore prehistoric subsistence patterns in lowland tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests generally found near the equator. They are common in Asia, Africa, South America, Central America, and on many of the Pacific Islands. . Over 200 primary and secondary burials, classified as pre-Neolithic and Neolithic, have been recovered since preliminary excavations began there a half-century ago. Stable isotope ratios of carbon derived from human tooth enamel enamel, a siliceous substance fusible upon metal. It may be so compounded as to be transparent or opaque and with or without color, but it is usually employed to add decorative color. It was used to decorate jewelry in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. provide the quantitative measure of individual food consumption during the time of enamel formation. Such data provide a robust and independent assessment of total diet that complements other subsistence information recovered from the archaeological record The archaeological record is a term used in archaeology to denote all archaeological evidence, including the physical remains of past human activities which archaeologists seek out and record in an attempt to analyze and reconstruct the past. . West Mouth human tooth enamel examined shows a broad range of [delta] 13 C values, consistent with a C3-based subsistence regime as would be expected in rainforest habitats dominated by C3 vegetation. Pre-Neolithic individuals have more negative [delta] 13 C values on average than Neolithic individuals sampled. This isotope shift Isotope shift A small difference between the different isotopes of an element in the transition energies corresponding to a given spectral line transition. is statistically significant and suggests a fundamental change occurring in human subsistence between the late Pleistocene/early Holocene and later Holocene inhabitants
The game is based loosely on the concepts from SameGame. of Niah. Pre-Neolithic [delta] 13 C values suggest broad spectrum rainforest foraging, whereas less negative Neolithic [delta] 13 C values, on average, suggest a more coordinated region of food production and/or collection. Studies of [delta] 13 C variation in rainforest habitats contribute to this interpretation, particularly with respect to the "canopy effect," whereby closed-canopy foraging predicts more negative [delta] 13 C values, which food resource consumed by exploiting more open settings (such as fields, gaps, and swamps) predict less negative [delta] 13 C values. These data have important implications for interpreting the nature of human subsistence in a rainforest setting prior to, and after, the potential adoption of agriculture by the inhabitants represented in the West Mouth burial series. |
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