Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Signatures Recorded in Animals - Geographic and Paleoenvironmental Proxies in the Southern Levant

追溯动物起源和运动的能力是考古解释的重要部分。将测试一个综合模型是否能够根据碳和氮同位素值预测黎凡特南部食草动物的气候和植物地理起源。虽然许多研究表明，植物中碳和氮同位素的天然丰度与降水呈负相关，但这些同位素值在黎凡特南部的分布需要进行更彻底的调查。此外，其他研究表明，草食动物体内的碳和氮同位素值在很大程度上是遗传的，如果被摄入的植物物质抵消的话。这些观察结果表明，植物组织中的碳和氮同位素丰度，后来转移到食草动物，可以用来确定食草动物的空间起源，并在局部尺度上追踪气候变化。这些假设将在目前的研究中得到检验，研究人员将对来自有机农场的山羊和牧场以及来自南黎凡特降水梯度和不同植物地理带不同地点的植物进行密集取样。然后，该模型将应用于一个案例研究，该研究旨在确定早期罗马时期朝圣对耶路撒冷经济的贡献，这反映在被带到这座城市的动物的同位素组成中。这个项目的智力价值主要在于将气候数据和植物和食草动物稳定的碳氮同位素值独特地整合到一个单一的预测模型中。这种整合将使确定动物的地理起源和跟踪气候变化成为可能。虽然大量的研究已经证明了植物体内水分供应与重碳氮同位素富集之间的关系，但本研究将通过测试这两种同位素是否沿降水梯度共同变化来做出贡献。此外，许多研究表明，不同动物的氮同位素与降水之间存在负相关关系，但植物和草食动物组成之间是否存在直接相关性尚不清楚。拟议的项目将通过在以色列沿两个降水梯度测试食草动物及其饮食之间的重氮同位素富集程度来解决这一模糊性。最后，尽管提出的模型是以生态学为基础的，但它将使研究范围广泛的考古问题成为可能，这些问题涉及从食草动物遗骸中有机保存骨胶原的流动模式、地理相关的经济过程和气候变化。

The ability to tract animal origins and movement is an important piece of archaeological interpretation. An integrative model will be tested for its ability to predict the climatic and phytogeographic origins of herbivores in the southern Levant based on carbon and nitrogen isotopic values. While a number of studies show that the natural abundance of carbon and nitrogen isotopes in plants is inversely correlated with precipitation, the distribution of these isotopic values through the southern Levant requires a more thorough investigation. Furthermore, other studies demonstrate that carbon and nitrogen isotopic values in herbivores are largely inherited, if offset, from ingested plant material. These observations suggest that the carbon and nitrogen isotopic abundances in plant tissues, later transferred to herbivorous animals, can be used to determine the spatial origins of herbivores and to track climatic changes through time on a local scale. The assumptions will be tested in the current research through intensive sampling of goats and pasture from organic farms and plants from different points along a precipitation gradient and different phytogeographic belts in the southern Levant. The model will then be applied to a case study that aims to determine the contribution of pilgrimage to Jerusalem's economy during the Early Roman Period as reflected by the isotopic composition of animals that were brought to the city.The intellectual merit of this project lies predominantly in the unique integration of climatic data and the stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values of plants and herbivores into a single predictive model. This integration will enable the determination of an animal's geographic origin and track climatic change. While a wealth of studies have demonstrated the relationship between water availability and heavy carbon and nitrogen isotope enrichment in plants, this study will contribute by testing whether these two isotopes co-vary along a precipitation gradient. In addition, many studies have demonstrated an inverse correlation between nitrogen isotopes and precipitation in different animals but it is unclear whether there is a direct correlation between plant and herbivore composition. The proposed project will address this ambiguity by testing the degree of heavy nitrogen isotope enrichment between herbivores and their diets along two precipitation gradients in Israel. Finally, although the proposed model is ecologically based, it will enable the investigation of a wide range of archaeological questions dealing with mobility patterns, geographically related economic processes and climatic change within the limits of the organic preservation of bone collagen from herbivore remains.