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

追踪动物起源和运动的能力是考古学解释的一个重要部分。将测试一个综合模型，以检验其根据碳和氮同位素值预测南黎凡特地区食草动物的气候和植物地理起源的能力。虽然许多研究表明，植物中碳和氮同位素的自然丰度与降雨量呈负相关，但这些同位素值在南莱万特的分布需要更彻底的调查。此外，其他研究表明，草食动物的碳和氮同位素值在很大程度上是遗传的，如果被抵消的话，是从摄入的植物材料中遗传的。这些观察表明，植物组织中的碳和氮同位素丰度后来转移到草食动物身上，可以用来确定草食动物的空间起源，并在局部尺度上跟踪气候随时间的变化。目前的研究将通过对来自有机农场的山羊和牧场以及来自降雨量梯度沿线不同地点和南莱万特不同植物地理带的植物进行密集采样，来检验这些假设。然后，该模型将被应用于一个案例研究，该案例旨在确定罗马早期朝圣对耶路撒冷经济的贡献，这一贡献体现在被带到耶路撒冷的动物的同位素组成上。该项目的智力优势主要在于将气候数据和植物和草食动物稳定的碳和氮同位素值整合到一个单一的预测模型中。这种整合将能够确定动物的地理来源并跟踪气候变化。虽然大量研究已经证明了水的可获得性与植物中碳和氮同位素重丰度之间的关系，但这项研究将通过测试这两种同位素是否随着降水梯度的共同变化而做出贡献。此外，许多研究表明，氮同位素与不同动物的降雨量呈负相关，但尚不清楚植物和草食动物的组成是否存在直接相关性。拟议的项目将通过测试沿以色列两个降水梯度的食草动物和它们的食物之间的重氮同位素富集度来解决这一模糊问题。最后，虽然拟议的模型是基于生态的，但它将能够在有机保存草食动物遗骸的骨胶原的范围内，研究涉及活动模式、地理相关的经济过程和气候变化的广泛的考古学问题。

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.