Ref ID:	34397
Ref Type:	Journal Article
Authors:	Balasse, Marie Bocherens, Hervé Mariotti, André Ambrose, Stanley H.
Title:	Detection of dietary changes by intra-tooth carbon and nitrogen isotopic analysis: an experimental study of dentine collagen of cattle (<i>Bos taurus<i>)
Date:	2001
Source:	Journal of Archaeological Science
Abstract:	Hypsodont teeth potentially contain a record of dietary or environmental changes occurring during their growth. The aim of our study is to understand how a dietary change is recorded in dentine collagen. Analyses were conducted on five steers (Bos taurus) raised in an experimental farm. From birth until weaning the steers were fed on a C3 diet after weaning they were fattened on a C4 /C3 mixed diet until slaughter. Dentine collagen was sampled on demineralized molars from top to bottom. The change from the C3 to the C4 /C3 diet and weaning are both reflected in intra-tooth variations in d13 C and d15 N values, respectively. The abrupt change in carbon isotopic composition of the diet is reflected by a progressive change of the dentine collagen d13 C values. The gradual change may reflect sampling strategy and/or gradual turnover of the metabolic nutrient pool. The weaning process is reflected by a decrease in d15 N that exactly coincides with increase in d13 C. This demonstrates that when steers are weaned to a protein-poor diet, d15 N traces the cessation of suckling. Archaeological applications of this study are considered, including determination of the duration of lactation in prehistoric herds, and detection of residential mobility in cattle herders.
Date Created:	8/10/2001
Volume:	28
Number:	3
Page Start:	235
Page End:	245