Lipids as carriers of anthropogenic signals from prehistory
Lipids as carriers of anthropogenic signals from prehistory
复制标题
DOI：
10.1098/rstb.1999.0357
复制
发表时间：
1999-01-29
影响因子：
6.3
通讯作者：
Bland, HA
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Evershed, RP;Dudd, SN;Bland, HA
在过去二十年中进行的研究表明，脂质与从考古遗址中发现的各种人工制品和生态事实（如陶器和骨骼遗骸）有关。这一领域的大部分工作侧重于使用分子结构（“生物标志物”）和分布（“指纹”）来评估与过去的文化、经济和农业做法有关的商品的性质和原产地。然而，由于脂质，像所有其他类别的生物分子，受到降解（前和埋葬后），重点是现在被放在成岩稳健，化合物特定的稳定同位素测量的补充使用，以提高考古解释的范围和可靠性。单个脂质的δ（13）C值的一个特征，而不是生物化学上更异质的材料的批量测量，在于它们能够反映在其生物合成中使用的碳源的同位素组成和饮食脂质及其代谢物在消费生物体中的路线的差异。这种同位素信息，气相色谱-燃烧-同位素比质谱法，开辟了新的途径，调查有关人类活动在史前。
Studies performed during the last two decades have shown that lipids are preserved in association with a wide range of artefacts and ecofacts recovered from archaeological sites, e.g. pottery vessels and skeletal remains. The majority of work in this area has focused on the use of molecular structures ('biomarkers') and distributions ('fingerprints') to assess the nature and origin of commodities associated with past cultural, economic and agricultural practices. However, since lipids, like all other classes of biomolecule, are affected by degradation (both pre- and post-burial), emphasis is now being placed on the complementary use of diagenetically robust, compound-specific stable isotope measurements to enhance the scope and reliability of archaeological interpretations. A feature of the delta(13)C values of individual lipids, rather than bulk measurements of biochemically more heterogeneous materials, lies in their capacity to reflect differences in both the isotopic composition of the carbon sources used in their biosynthesis and the routing of dietary lipids and their metabolites in consumer organisms. This isotopic information, accessible by gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry, has opened up new avenues of investigation concerning human activity in prehistory.