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17 avril 2024
- handle: 10670/1.fxbglt
- hal: hal-04603933
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Sarah Barakat et al., « Combining strontium and sulphur isotope analysis to reconstruct Paleolithic reindeer mobility », HAL-SHS : archéologie, ID : 10670/1.fxbglt
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Understanding the movement patterns of past animals is key to unravelling Paleolithic hunter-gatherer mobility and landscape use. Strontium isotope analysis (87Sr/86Sr) has long been used as a proxy for provenance studies based on the high correlation between strontium values in faunal tissues and underlying lithology. However, interpreting 87Sr/86Sr results can prove challenging in areas with either homogenous or heterogenous lithologies. Sulphur isotopic analysis (δ34S) is becoming increasingly useful as a secondary indicator of provenance due to an increased understanding in sulfur variability in relation to coastlines/sea spray effects, changes in lithology and with climate. Thus, combining 87Sr/86Sr and δ34S analyses offers thepotential to improve reconstructions of individual movement histories and to infer species-specific spatial behaviors. Focusing on Late Pleistocene France, we present novel 87Sr/86Sr and δ34S isotope data evidencing reindeer mobility patterns across the sedimentary basins of France. By comparing time-series 87Sr/86Sr data and bulk collagen δ34S, we generate a diachronic dataset including samples from Middle and Upper Paleolithic sites, allowing us to reconstruct seasonal movements from early-life and compare with later-life spatial data.This data further illuminates behavioral plasticity in Late Pleistocene reindeer, and the relationship between reindeer paleoecology to past climate change and human behaviors.