DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.16419626
title: Stable isotope analysis (carbon-13, nitrogen-15) on collagen of large ungulates from Late Mesolithic to Early Neolithic sites in Northern Germany and Denmark.

description: Table: Results of elemental analysis on bone (Nbone), and collagen (Ccoll, Ncoll, C:Ncoll), extraction yield (Yield), andisotopic analysis of collagen (δ13Ccoll, δ15Ncoll) from aurochs (Bos primigenius), horse (Equus ferus) and elk (Alces alces) from Ertebølle and Funnel Beaker occupations in northern Germany and Denmark. Sources: 1=Benecke, 2002, 2= Scheu et al., 2008, 3=Sommer et al., 2011, 4= Glykou, 2016

All collagen complied with the quality control criteria established by DeNiro (1985) and Van Klinken (1999). Bone sampling, pretreatment and collagen extraction followed the procedure described in Krajcarz et al. (2024a, 2024b). Specimens with δ13Ccoll values lower than –23‰ likely reflect a closed-canopy forest habitat, where understory plants are depleted in 13C (e.g. Drucker et al., 2008). This pattern is observed in one elk from Neustadt and in the aurochs, except for for the Bronze Age individual from south of Nordstrand. Variations in δ15Ncoll values can be attributed to differences in diet composition  (e.g., grazing vs. browsing) and/or local environmental conditions (see discussion in Hofman‐Kamińska et al., 2019). 

 

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