Freshwater reservoir offsets on radiocarbon-dated dog bone from the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River, USA
Isotopic analysis of dog (Canis lupus familiaris) bone recovered from archaeological sites as proxies for human bone is becoming common in North America. Chronological placement of the dogs is often determined through radiocarbon dating of dog bone. The Great Lakes, their tributaries, and nearby lak...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:03e1cbe8a73c4c36aa44154ebff7b2c4 2023-10-01T03:55:19+02:00 Freshwater reservoir offsets on radiocarbon-dated dog bone from the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River, USA John P. Hart Robert S. Feranec Timothy J. Abel Jessica L. Vavrasek 2019-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7174 https://doaj.org/article/03e1cbe8a73c4c36aa44154ebff7b2c4 EN eng PeerJ Inc. https://peerj.com/articles/7174.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/7174/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.7174 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/03e1cbe8a73c4c36aa44154ebff7b2c4 PeerJ, Vol 7, p e7174 (2019) Freshwater reservoir offsets Dogs Radiocarbon dating St. Lawrence River Bayesian dietary modeling Medicine R article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7174 2023-09-03T00:43:05Z Isotopic analysis of dog (Canis lupus familiaris) bone recovered from archaeological sites as proxies for human bone is becoming common in North America. Chronological placement of the dogs is often determined through radiocarbon dating of dog bone. The Great Lakes, their tributaries, and nearby lakes and streams were important fisheries for Native Americans prior to and after sustained European presence in the region. Carbon entering the food web in freshwater systems is often not in full isotopic equilibrium with the atmosphere, giving rise to spuriously old radiocarbon ages in fish, other aquatic organisms, and their consumers. These freshwater reservoir offsets (FROs) have been noted on human and dog bone in several areas of the world. Here we report the results of multi-tracer Bayesian dietary modeling using δ15N and δ13C values on dog bone collagen from mid-fifteenth to mid-sixteenth-century Iroquoian village sites at the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River, New York, USA. Results indicate that fish was an important component of dog diets. A comparison of radiocarbon dates on dog bone with dates on deer bone or maize from the same sites indicate FROs ranging from 97 ± 24 to 220 ± 39 14Cyr with a weighted mean of 132 ± 8 14Cyr. These results suggest that dog bone should not be used for radiocarbon dating in the absence of modeling to determine fish consumption and that previously reported radiocarbon dates on human bone from the larger region are likely to have FROs given the known importance of fish in regional human diets. Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Lawrence River ENVELOPE(-115.002,-115.002,58.384,58.384) PeerJ 7 e7174 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Freshwater reservoir offsets Dogs Radiocarbon dating St. Lawrence River Bayesian dietary modeling Medicine R |
spellingShingle |
Freshwater reservoir offsets Dogs Radiocarbon dating St. Lawrence River Bayesian dietary modeling Medicine R John P. Hart Robert S. Feranec Timothy J. Abel Jessica L. Vavrasek Freshwater reservoir offsets on radiocarbon-dated dog bone from the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River, USA |
topic_facet |
Freshwater reservoir offsets Dogs Radiocarbon dating St. Lawrence River Bayesian dietary modeling Medicine R |
description |
Isotopic analysis of dog (Canis lupus familiaris) bone recovered from archaeological sites as proxies for human bone is becoming common in North America. Chronological placement of the dogs is often determined through radiocarbon dating of dog bone. The Great Lakes, their tributaries, and nearby lakes and streams were important fisheries for Native Americans prior to and after sustained European presence in the region. Carbon entering the food web in freshwater systems is often not in full isotopic equilibrium with the atmosphere, giving rise to spuriously old radiocarbon ages in fish, other aquatic organisms, and their consumers. These freshwater reservoir offsets (FROs) have been noted on human and dog bone in several areas of the world. Here we report the results of multi-tracer Bayesian dietary modeling using δ15N and δ13C values on dog bone collagen from mid-fifteenth to mid-sixteenth-century Iroquoian village sites at the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River, New York, USA. Results indicate that fish was an important component of dog diets. A comparison of radiocarbon dates on dog bone with dates on deer bone or maize from the same sites indicate FROs ranging from 97 ± 24 to 220 ± 39 14Cyr with a weighted mean of 132 ± 8 14Cyr. These results suggest that dog bone should not be used for radiocarbon dating in the absence of modeling to determine fish consumption and that previously reported radiocarbon dates on human bone from the larger region are likely to have FROs given the known importance of fish in regional human diets. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
John P. Hart Robert S. Feranec Timothy J. Abel Jessica L. Vavrasek |
author_facet |
John P. Hart Robert S. Feranec Timothy J. Abel Jessica L. Vavrasek |
author_sort |
John P. Hart |
title |
Freshwater reservoir offsets on radiocarbon-dated dog bone from the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River, USA |
title_short |
Freshwater reservoir offsets on radiocarbon-dated dog bone from the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River, USA |
title_full |
Freshwater reservoir offsets on radiocarbon-dated dog bone from the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River, USA |
title_fullStr |
Freshwater reservoir offsets on radiocarbon-dated dog bone from the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River, USA |
title_full_unstemmed |
Freshwater reservoir offsets on radiocarbon-dated dog bone from the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River, USA |
title_sort |
freshwater reservoir offsets on radiocarbon-dated dog bone from the headwaters of the st. lawrence river, usa |
publisher |
PeerJ Inc. |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7174 https://doaj.org/article/03e1cbe8a73c4c36aa44154ebff7b2c4 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-115.002,-115.002,58.384,58.384) |
geographic |
Lawrence River |
geographic_facet |
Lawrence River |
genre |
Canis lupus |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus |
op_source |
PeerJ, Vol 7, p e7174 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://peerj.com/articles/7174.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/7174/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.7174 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/03e1cbe8a73c4c36aa44154ebff7b2c4 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7174 |
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PeerJ |
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7 |
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e7174 |
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1778523684596613120 |