Analysis of 13C and 15N isotopes from Eurasian Quaternary fossils: Insights in diet, climate and ecology

• Main Author: Kuitems, M.
• Other Authors: Kolfschoten, T. van, Plicht, J. van der, Kolen, J. (Committee member), Soressi, M. (Committee member), Roebroeks, J.W.M. (Committee member), Lister, A.M. (Committee member), Tikhonov, A.N. (Committee member), Llorente Rodriquez, L. (Committee member), Leiden University
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Stable carbon isotopes; Stable nitrogen isotopes; Woolly mammoth; Mammoth steppe ecosystem; Wrangel Island; Quaternary extinctions; Elasmotherium sibiricum; Eurasian Quaternary fossils; Schöningen; Dietary reconstruction; Climate change
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1887/87893

Woolly mammoth fossils on an island where the species eventually dies out, human and animal fossils on the bottom of the North Sea, remains of Siberian unicorns and exceptionally well-preserved bones from 300,000 years ago from the famous Schöningen archaeological site in Germany: these are the main topics discussed in this thesis. In this dissertation, a vast amount of isotope (d13C and d15N) data from bulk collagen of Quaternary mammalian fossils are presented and discussed. Most of these data are measured at the Centre for Isotope Research (CIO), Groningen (n > 400). The dataset consists of samples from various localities within Eurasia and are taken from human fossils, but mainly from fossils of various animal taxa including extinct species. Many of these faunal species belong to the typical ‘Mammoth steppe fauna’. The results shed light on dietary and habitat characteristics of these animals and hominins through time and space, often during episodes of dramatic climate change. Overall, this thesis, a study of stable isotope data from mammalian fossils, contributes to our understanding of ecological conditions during the Pleistocene / Early Holocene in Eurasia. Parts of his work was financially supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) in the frame of the Russian-Dutch scientific cooperation COMSEC (i.e. The collapse of the mammoth steppe ecosystem, № 047.017.041) and by the Leiden University Fund (LUF), Van Trigt (№10602). Bioarchaeology