A Neolithic revolution? New evidence of diet in the British Neolithic.

A Neolithic revolution? New evidence of diet in the British Neolithic. Introduction It is tempting to think of the Early Neolithic in southern Britainas being represented as a complete `package' of traits, includingpottery, megalithic meg��a��lith?n.A very large stone used in various prehistoric architectures or monumental styles, notably in western Europe during the second millennium b.c. tombs and wooden structures, and domesticated plants This is a list of plants that have been domesticated by humans.The list includes species or larger formal and informal botanical categories that include at least some domesticated individuals. and animals. Indeed, at many Neolithic sites this package of traits doesseem to occur together, and on the face of the archaeological record The archaeological record is a term used in archaeology to denote all archaeological evidence, including the physical remains of past human activities which archaeologists seek out and record in an attempt to analyze and reconstruct the past. this material culture is very different from that recovered from earlierMesolithic sites. However, the nature of the transition betweenMesolithic and Neolithic periods is a major research concern at present.In particular there are questions about how rapidly the change inmaterial culture occurred, as well as questions of the mechanisms ofthat change, focusing on questions of whether the Neolithic was broughtto Britain by immigrants (Case 1969), adopted by indigenous Mesolithicpeople (Dennell 1983; Barker 1986), or a combination of the two (Whittle1996). Central to our discussion here are inferred changes in subsistencepractices between the Mesolithic and Neolithic, which we can roughlysummarize as a change from exclusive use of wild foods in the Mesolithicto the increased use of domesticated plants and animals in theNeolithic, introduced to the diets either gradually or rapidly. Untilnow, there has not been a way of characterizing Mesolithic and Neolithicdiet accurately enough to address the question of changes in subsistencebetween these two time periods. In this paper we present new evidencefrom the chemical analysis of human bones, namely stable isotope stable isotopen.An isotope of an element that shows no tendency to undergo radioactive breakdown. analysis, which can characterize Mesolithic and Neolithic diets, and socan be used to address the question of how rapid the transition in dietwas between these two periods. Radiocarbon dates for the earliest Neolithic How accurately can wedate the appearance of Neolithic material culture in the British Isles British Isles:see Great Britain; Ireland. ?Most of the earliest dates from Neolithic contexts cluster around5300-5200 BP (Zvelebil & Rowley-Conwy 1986; Williams 1989). Thereare a few earlier dates, including one of the earliest dates on a humanbone from a Neolithic context, 5380 [+ or -] 90 BP (OXA-4176) fromWhitwell Long Cairn (Hedges et al. 1994). However, these single earlydates are discounted by Williams (1989) as being atypical atypical/atyp��i��cal/ (-i-k'l) irregular; not conformable to the type; in microbiology, applied specifically to strains of unusual type. a��typ��i��caladj. or unreliable.The latest characteristically Mesolithic sites date to about 5400-5500BP (Zvelebil & Rowley-Conwy 1986; Williams 1989), so despite claimsby Williams (1989) there does not seem to be a substantial period ofoverlap between most of the early Neolithic and latest Mesolithic dates.For the purposes of this paper, then, we consider the Neolithic asappearing in southern Britain between 5400 and 5200 BP. Changes in the archaeological record from the Mesolithic to theEarly Neolithic The new innovations in material culture that appear in Britain withthe early Neolithic, such as pottery, new lithic lith��ic?1?adj.Consisting of or relating to stone or rock.Adj. 1. lithic - of or containing lithium2. lithic - relating to or composed of stone; "lithic sandstone" forms and monumentbuilding, have no apparent antecedents in the later Mesolithic. Thislack of Mesolithic pottery in Britain contrasts with the situation inDenmark, to which Britain is often compared, where pottery was adoptedby in the late Mesolithic Ertebolle period a few centuries before themajor changes associated with the appearance of the Neolithic TRB TRB Transportation Research BoardTRB Technical Review BoardTRB Teacher Registration BoardTRB Test Review BoardTRB Total Relationship BalanceTRB Tap-Rack-Bang (shooting procedure)TRB Theodore Roosevelt Building culture (Price 1997). There are some similarities in the lithics betweenthe two periods, as burins, serrated blades, punches and scrapers arestill used, although leaf-shaped arrowheads are exclusive to theNeolithic (Pitts & Jacobi 1979). There is not a tradition ofmonument building in the Mesolithic, although there have been some findsof possible small houses or huts (Green 1996), but nothing approachingthe level of construction seen at Neolithic sites. There are, of course, major differences in the plant and animalremains recovered from Mesolithic and Neolithic sites, particularly inthe first appearance of domesticated do��mes��ti��cate?tr.v. do��mes��ti��cat��ed, do��mes��ti��cat��ing, do��mes��ti��cates1. To cause to feel comfortable at home; make domestic.2. To adopt or make fit for domestic use or life.3. a. cattle, sheep/goat, pig and cerealsin the Neolithic. Were these new domesticates that appear at earlyNeolithic sites gradually introduced into the diets of indigenous(Mesolithic) peoples in Britain over the whole of the Neolithic, or werethey adopted quickly, replacing previous methods of subsistence, orsomething in between? Wild foods, including red deer Red Deer, city, CanadaRed Deer,city (1991 pop. 58,134), S central Alta., Canada, on the Red Deer River. It developed as a trade and service center for a region of dairying and mixed farming. and hazelnuts,which are characteristically found at Mesolithic sites, are found insmall quantities on Neolithic sites, while domesticated fauna faunaAll the species of animals found in a particular region, period, or special environment. Five faunal realms, based on terrestrial animal species, are generally recognized: Holarctic, including Nearactic (North America) and Paleartic (Eurasia and northern Africa); ,particularly cattle, dominate most of the faunal assemblages fromNeolithic sites. There are many coastal shell middens in Britain,containing food refuse from marine fauna which date to the Mesolithic,but are abandoned by the Neolithic, and indeed there are very few, ifany, finds of marine faunal remains at Neolithic sites in southernBritain. Therefore, on the material evidence alone there are significantdifferences in food remains found at Mesolithic and Neolithic sites. Unfortunately, the nature of faunal and floral analysis is that itis an indirect measure of human diet, as it can tell us about specificfoods consumed at what may have been single events, but cannot providean accurate overall picture of the relative proportions of foods inhuman diets. Stable isotope analysis of human bone, by contrast, can providedirect evidence of human diet over a number of years (Schwarcz &Schoeninger 1991; Ambrose 1993). Human bone is composed of componentstaken from foods that have been eaten over a period of a person'slife. The carbon in those foods has therefore made its way into humanbones that are often recovered from archaeological contexts. There aretwo stable isotopes of carbon Carbon (C)Standard atomic mass: 12.0107(8) u Tablenuclidesymbol Z(p) N(n) isotopic mass (u) half-life nuclearspin representativeisotopiccomposition(mole fraction) range of naturalvariation(mole fraction) ([sup.12]C and [sup.13]C) and the ratio ofthe two is the carbon stable isotope ratio and denoted by the symbol[Delta][sup.13]C. Different categories of foods have different[Delta][sup.13]C values, in particular terrestrial plants and animalsdiffer from marine plants and animals. These different food values arepreserved in human bone collagen collagen(kŏl`əjən), any of a group of proteins found in skin, ligaments, tendons, bone and cartilage, and other connective tissue. Cells called fibroblasts form the various fibers in connective tissue in the body. [Delta][sup.13]C values. Bone collagenvalues reflect the protein portion of the diets over approximately thelast 5-15 years of life (Ambrose 1993) and so by measuring the bonecollagen [Delta][sup.13]C values we can look at the amounts of carbonfrom marine vs terrestrial protein that was consumed by an individualover the last years of their life. Human bone collagen [Delta][sup.13]Cvalues of -11 or -12 [salinity] indicate a diet composed almost entirely([is greater than] 95%) of marine protein, while values close to -20 or-21 [salinity] indicate a mainly ([is greater than] 95%) terrestrialprotein diet. The [Delta][sup.13]C value is a quantitative measure ofthe amounts of the two types of protein that have been consumed, so[Delta][sup.13]C values of -16 [salinity] suggest a diet withapproximately 50% terrestrial and 50% marine protein. Applications of stable isotope analysis to early Neolithic humans If we can characterize late Mesolithic diets using human[Delta][sup.13]C values, at least in coastal areas, as having asignificant marine food component, we can compare this with the amountsof marine foods in Neolithic diets as indicated by Neolithic human[Delta][sup.13]C values. If the Neolithic [Delta][sup.13]C valuesindicate that marine foods were still being used significantly in theNeolithic, then we can infer that Neolithic domesticates were beingintroduced into the diets gradually. If, however, [Delta][sup.13]Canalysis of Neolithic human bones indicates there is a lack of marinefoods, then we can infer that there was a fairly rapid change in diet asmarine foods were replaced by terrestrial foods, most likely the newdomesticates that appear at this time. Clearly this argument rests on demonstrating first that lateMesolithic diets at coastal areas did have significant marine resourcesin them. At a number of coastal European Mesolithic sites stable isotopeanalysis of human bones found associated with shell middens hasillustrated the importance of marine foods in the diets. Tauber (1981) was the first to apply stable isotope analysis toMesolithic human remains in Europe. He measured the [Delta][sup.13]Cvalues of Mesolithic and Neolithic human remains from coastal sites inDenmark and observed that Mesolithic (Ertebolle) humans buried in shellmiddens clearly obtained most of their protein from the sea, as they had[Delta][sup.13]C values close to -- 13 [salinity] (Schoeninger et al.1983). Of particular interest here, he also observed a dramatic changein [Delta][sup.13]C values, indicating a diet change, between Mesolithicand Neolithic humans, as Neolithic humans uniformly had terrestrial[Delta][sup.13]C values averaging about -20 [salinity]. He concludedthat the Ertebolle humans had a predominantly marine diet, butassociated with the appearance of Neolithic TRB material culture in thesame area there was a rapid change in diet and marine foods werereplaced by terrestrial foods, probably domesticated plants and animals. Lubell et al. (1994) observed a similar change in human isotope isotope(ī`sətōp), in chemistry and physics, one of two or more atoms having the same atomic number but differing in atomic weight and mass number. The concept of isotope was introduced by F. values between Mesolithic humans buried in shell middens in Portugal,who had a marine diet, and later Neolithic humans buried in caves, whohad terrestrial diets. Richards & Schulting (in preparation) havemeasured [Delta][sup.13]C values of Mesolithic humans buried at shellmiddens in Brittany, at the sites of Teviec and Hoedic, and the[Delta][sup.13]C measurements also are indicative of a predominantlymarine food diet. Liden (1995) has observed marine [Delta][sup.13]Cvalues for humans buried in association with shell middens at variousMesolithic sites in Sweden, including Skateholm. In southern Britain, there are a number of shell middens that dateto the late Mesolithic, but unfortunately they do not contain humanbone. Many shell middens have been lost as they are now underwater.However, the appearance of shell middens in this region stronglysuggests that, like the rest of the Atlantic coast of Europe, marinefoods were an important part of Mesolithic diets at coastal sites in thelate Mesolithic. Humans interred in the Mesolithic middens at Oronsay,Inner Hebrides For islands with similar names, see .Oronsay (Scottish Gaelic: Orasaigh), also sometimes spelt and pronounced Oransay by the local community, is a small tidal island south of Colonsay in the Scottish Inner Hebrides with an area of just over two square , do have marine [Delta][sup.13]C values (Richards &Mellars 1998), and new, stable isotope data from South Wales South Walessouth n → sud m du Pays de Gallesshows thatearlier Mesolithic humans there also had predominantly marine diet(Richards & Schulting, unpublished data). It would have been ideal to carry out a similar isotope study toTauber's in Britain, to see if there was a similar change in human[Delta][sup.13]C values at coastal sites from marine to terrestrialvalues coinciding with the start of the Neolithic. Unfortunately, thisis impossible because, as discussed, there are so few human remains fromthe late Mesolithic in Britain. In the absence of Mesolithic human [Delta][sup.13]C measurements wehave instead collated a large number of [Delta][sup.13]C values ofradiocarbon-dated human bone collagen from a variety of coastal andinland sites dating to the Early and Middle Neolithic (c. 5400-4500 BP).These sites include Neolithic tombs, ritual monuments and enclosures, aswell as caves. Most of these dates were undertaken at the OxfordRadiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU ORAU Oak Ridge Associated Universities ), and a few were taken from publishedvalues from the British Museum British Museum,the national repository in London for treasures in science and art. Located in the Bloomsbury section of the city, it has departments of antiquities, prints and drawings, coins and medals, and ethnography. radiocarbon laboratory. The radiocarbondates, associated [Delta][sup.13]C values, method of preparation and thesource of the data are given for each sample in TABLE 1. The sitelocations are plotted on a map (FIGURE 1). [Figure 1 ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] TABLE 1. Radiocarbon dated (uncalibrated radiocarbon years BP)Early and Middle Neolithic humans and associated [Delta][sup.13]C valuesfrom 27 inland and coastal sites in England and Wales England and Wales are both constituent countries of the United Kingdom, that together share a single legal system: English law. Legislatively, England and Wales are treated as a single unit (see State (law)) for the conflict of laws. . Sources of datesare Archaeometry ORAU datelists (A1, A22 etc.), British Museum datelistspublished in Radiocarbon (BM 1983 refers to Burleigh et al. 1983, BM1989 is Ambers et al. 1989) and samples which have not yet beenpublished in Archaeometry datelists, but are forthcoming (AF). The sitetypes are: T=chambered tomb, C=cave, CU=cursus, E=enclosure, G=gravels.The sample preparation methods are IonEx (ion-exchanged collagenprepared at ORAU, following the methods outlined in Hedges et al. 1989),MR (collagen prepared by M. Richards following the method outlined inRichards 1998), Gel (non ion-exchanged collagen prepared at ORAU), andBM (collagen prepared at the British Museum dating laboratory, followingprocedures outlined in their datelists published in the journalRadiocarbon). The Preston Docks dates will appear in Gonzalez &Turner (in preparation) and the Lambourn dates will appear in Schulting(in press).sitelab no. site country typeBM-1974 Ascott-Under-Wychwood England TBM-1975 Ascott-Under-Wychwood England TBM-1976 Ascott-Under-Wychwood England TOxA-4359 Barrow Hills England TOxA-4983 Bob's Cave England COxA-2350 Creswell Crags England COxA-119 Dorchester England CUOxA-7046 Hambledon Hill England EOxA-7039 Hambledon Hill England EOxA-7044 Hambledon Hill England EOxA-7040 Hambledon Hill England EOxA-7045 Hambledon Hill England EOxA-7047 Hambledon Hill England EOxA-7100 Hambledon Hill England EOxA-7101 Hambledon Hill England EOxA-7102 Hambledon Hill England EOxA-5844 Haywood Cave England COxA-1177 Hazleton England TOxA-903 Hazleton England TOxA-904 Hazleton England TOxA-905 Hazleton England TOxA-906 Hazleton England TOxA-910 Hazleton England TOxA-911 Hazleton England TOxA-912 Hazleton England TOxA-6630 Kemptown Man Skull England COxA-5863 King Arthur's Cave England COxA-1148 Maiden Castle England EBM-2451 Maiden Castle England EOxA-4448 Markland Grips England COxA-4447 Markland Grips England COxA-3198 Millbarrow England TOxA-3169 Millbarrow England TOxA-3171 Millbarrow England TOxA-3172 Millbarrow England TOxA-630 Ossom's Cave England COxA-7509 Preston Docks England GOxA-7415 Preston Docks England GOxA-7416 Preston Docks England GOxA-7510 Preston Docks England GOxA-7417 Preston Docks England GOxA-7511 Preston Docks England GOxA-7513 Preston Docks England GOxA-7419 Preston Docks England GOxA-7420 Preston Docks England GOxA-7514 Preston Docks England GOxA-5633 Redlands Farm England TOxA-5632 Redlands Farm England TOxA-7386 Robin Hood Cave England COxA-450 West Kennet England TOxA-451 West Kennet England TOxA-563 West Kennet England TOxA-4326 Whitwell Long Cairn England TOxA-4177 Whitwell Long Cairn England TOxA-4176 Whitwell Long Cairn England TOxA-4553 Willington England TOxA-2403 Windmill Hill England EOxA-2399 Windmill Hill England EOxA-6145 Kendrick's Cave Wales COxA-3303 Little Hoyle Cave Wales COxA-3305 Little Hoyle Cave Wales COxA-3306 Little Hoyle Cave Wales COxA-3304 Little Hoyle Cave Wales COxA-6489 Parc le Breos Cwm Wales TOxA-6494 Parc le Breos Cwm Wales TOxA-6490 Parc le Breos Cwm Wales TOxA-6487 Parc le Breos Cwm Wales TOxA-6641 Parc le Breos Cwm Wales TOxA-6491 Parc le Breos Cwm Wales TOxA-6488 Parc le Breos Cwm Wales TOxA-6492 Parc le Breos Cwm Wales TOxA-6496 Parc le Breos Cwm Wales TOxA-6493 Parc le Breos Cwm Wales TOxA-5820 Pontnewydd Cave Wales COxA-3815 Spurge Hole Cave Wales COxA-7693 Lambourn England TOxA-7693 Lambourn England TOxA-7693 Lambourn England Tsitelab no. [sup.14]C age (BP) [Delta][sup.13]CBM-1974 4680 [+ or -] 130 -21.4BM-1975 3870 [+ or -] 100 -21.8BM-1976 4930 [+ or -] 100 -19.7OxA-4359 4700 [+ or -] 100 -21.1OxA-4983 5035 [+ or -] 70 -20.3OxA-2350 4640 [+ or -] 70 -23.1OxA-119 4800 [+ or -] 130 -20.6OxA-7046 4490 [+ or -] 55 -20.7OxA-7039 4550 [+ or -] 60 -20.8OxA-7044 4560 [+ or -] 55 -20.8OxA-7040 4565 [+ or -] 60 -20.7OxA-7045 4645 [+ or -] 60 -20.5OxA-7047 4650 [+ or -] 55 -20.5OxA-7100 4770 [+ or -] 30 -20.4OxA-7101 4815 [+ or -] 35 -20.8OxA-7102 4890 [+ or -] 35 -20.4OxA-5844 4860 [+ or -] 65 -20.8OxA-1177 4640 [+ or -] 80 -20.5OxA-903 4840 [+ or -] 60 -20.2OxA-904 4860 [+ or -] 70 -20.3OxA-905 4950 [+ or -] 70 -20.1OxA-906 4880 [+ or -] 70 -19.9OxA-910 5000 [+ or -] 70 -21.0OxA-911 4830 [+ or -] 80 -20.4OxA-912 5200 [+ or -] 150 -20.9OxA-6630 4845 [+ or -] 50 -20.5OxA-5863 4670 [+ or -] 60 -21.3OxA-1148 4810 [+ or -] 80 -20.0BM-2451 4860 [+ or -] 70 -20.4OxA-4448 4740 [+ or -] 90 -21.6OxA-4447 4760 [+ or -] 90 -21.1OxA-3198 4480 [+ or -] 80 -21.8OxA-3169 4620 [+ or -] 90 -21.4OxA-3171 4750 [+ or -] 120 -21.6OxA-3172 4900 [+ or -] 110 -20.9OxA-630 4860 [+ or -] 80 -21.6OxA-7509 4660 [+ or -] 90 -21.2OxA-7415 4625 [+ or -] 45 -21.3OxA-7416 4370 [+ or -] 45 -21.3OxA-7510 4630 [+ or -] 110 -21.3OxA-7417 4640 [+ or -] 45 -21.5OxA-7511 4700 [+ or -] 80 -21.3OxA-7513 5030 [+ or -] 90 -21.1OxA-7419 4835 [+ or -] 55 -21.0OxA-7420 4965 [+ or -] 55 -21.1OxA-7514 5130 [+ or -] 90 -21.2OxA-5633 4820 [+ or -] 80 -20.5OxA-5632 4825 [+ or -] 65 -20.2OxA-7386 5000 [+ or -] 40 -20.5OxA-450 4700 [+ or -] 80 -19.9OxA-451 4780 [+ or -] 90 -21.0OxA-563 4780 [+ or -] 90 -20.5OxA-4326 5115 [+ or -] 70 -20.4OxA-4177 5190 [+ or -] 100 -20.1OxA-4176 5380 [+ or -] 90 -20.7OxA-4553 4530 [+ or -] 130 -22.3OxA-2403 4745 [+ or -] 70 -22.5OxA-2399 4750 [+ or -] 70 -22.3OxA-6145 5140 [+ or -] 65 -20.1OxA-3303 4660 [+ or -] 80 -19.4OxA-3305 4750 [+ or -] 75 -19.9OxA-3306 4880 [+ or -] 90 -20.4OxA-3304 4930 [+ or -] 80 -21.2OxA-6489 4445 [+ or -] 60 -21.3OxA-6494 4645 [+ or -] 60 -21.4OxA-6490 4660 [+ or -] 60 -21.8OxA-6487 4685 [+ or -] 65 -21.2OxA-6641 4690 [+ or -] 55 -20.4OxA-6491 4710 [+ or -] 60 -21.2OxA-6488 4780 [+ or -] 60 -20.7OxA-6492 4805 [+ or -] 55 -21.3OxA-6496 4850 [+ or -] 65 -21.5OxA-6493 4875 [+ or -] 55 -21.8OxA-5820 4495 [+ or -] 70 -21.1OxA-3815 4830 [+ or -] 100 -19.8OxA-7693 4955 [+ or -] 45 -20.9OxA-7693 4915 [+ or -] 45 -20.6OxA-7693 4395 [+ or -] 45 -21.2sitelab no. source method mapBM-1974 BM 1983 BM 1BM-1975 BM 1983 BM 1BM-1976 BM 1983 BM 1OxA-4359 A22 IonEx 2OxA-4983 AF IonEx 3OxA-2350 A13 IonEx 4OxA-119 A1 MR 5OxA-7046 AF Gel 6OxA-7039 AF Gel 6OxA-7044 AF Gel 6OxA-7040 AF Gel 6OxA-7045 AF Gel 6OxA-7047 AF Gel 6OxA-7100 AF Gel 6OxA-7101 AF Gel 6OxA-7102 AF Gel 6OxA-5844 A24 IonEx 7OxA-1177 A7 MR 8OxA-903 A5 MR 8OxA-904 A5 MR 8OxA-905 A5 MR 8OxA-906 A5 MR 8OxA-910 A5 MR 8OxA-911 A5 MR 8OxA-912 A5 MR 8OxA-6630 AF IonEx 9OxA-5863 A24 IonEx 10OxA-1148 A8 MR 11BM-2451 BM 1989 BM 11OxA-4448 A22 IonEx 12OxA-4447 A22 IonEx 12OxA-3198 A14 IonEx 13OxA-3169 A14 IonEx 13OxA-3171 A14 IonEx 13OxA-3172 A14 IonEx 13OxA-630 A3 MR 14OxA-7509 AF Gel 15OxA-7415 AF Gel 15OxA-7416 AF Gel 15OxA-7510 AF Gel 15OxA-7417 AF Gel 15OxA-7511 AF Gel 15OxA-7513 AF Gel 15OxA-7419 AF Gel 15OxA-7420 AF Gel 15OxA-7514 AF Gel 15OxA-5633 A23 IonEx 16OxA-5632 A23 IonEx 16OxA-7386 AF Gel 17OxA-450 A2 MR 18OxA-451 A2 MR 18OxA-563 A2 MR 18OxA-4326 A18 IonEx 19OxA-4177 A18 IonEx 19OxA-4176 A18 IonEx 19OxA-4553 A23 IonEx 20OxA-2403 A14 IonEx 21OxA-2399 A14 IonEx 21OxA-6145 AF IonEx 22OxA-3303 A16 IonEx 23OxA-3305 A16 IonEx 23OxA-3306 A16 IonEx 23OxA-3304 A16 IonEx 23OxA-6489 AF IonEx 24OxA-6494 AF IonEx 24OxA-6490 AF IonEx 24OxA-6487 AF IonEx 24OxA-6641 AF IonEx 24OxA-6491 AF IonEx 24OxA-6488 AF IonEx 24OxA-6492 AF IonEx 24OxA-6496 AF IonEx 24OxA-6493 AF IonEx 24OxA-5820 AF IonEx 25OxA-3815 AF IonEx 26OxA-7693 AF Gel 27OxA-7693 AF Gel 27OxA-7693 AF Gel 27 The results are striking. No individuals dating to after 5400 BP ateither coastal or inland sites have any evidence of any marine proteinin their diets, as all of their [Delta][sup.13]C values are close to -20[salinity]. Even humans from coastal cave sites, which may conceivablybe late Mesolithic burials, have terrestrial [Delta][sup.13]C values.There are, of course, gaps in this record, and it cannot be used tosuggest unequivocally that there was a complete change of diet in allparts of Britain after 5400 BP. There is no a priori a prioriIn epistemology, knowledge that is independent of all particular experiences, as opposed to a posteriori (or empirical) knowledge, which derives from experience. reason to believethat inland Mesolithic groups had any marine foods in their diets(unless their seasonal rounds involved time on the coast), so theirterrestrial [Delta][sup.13]C values may not be surprising. However, atcoastal sites it is significant that marine foods were being ignored asa resource, when the existence of shell middens attests to theimportance of marine foods in Mesolithic diets. We believe these data indicate that, at least in coastal areas,there was a rapid change in diet in southern Britain associated with theintroduction of Neolithic material culture and the first appearance ofdomesticated plants and animals. Discussion This new evidence of a lack of marine resources in the Early andMiddle Neolithic has implications for models of the Mesolithic/Neolithictransition. It could be taken as support for models of a colonization colonization,extension of political and economic control over an area by a state whose nationals have occupied the area and usually possess organizational or technological superiority over the native population. ofBritain in the early Neolithic by a people with a well definedsubsistence regime based on domesticates, although this is unlikely, asother lines of evidence contradict this model. Models of an adoption ofNeolithic material culture and domesticates by indigenous peoples couldbe supported by this isotope evidence as well, but only if we see arapid adoption of domesticates, not a gradual, piecemeal piecemealpatchy, e.g. necrosis of the liver in which groups of hepatocytes are separated by small groups of inflammatory cells and fine, fibrous septa following extension of the inflammatory process beyond the limiting plate. adoptionthrough time. Conclusions The stable isotope data presented here has provided new informationabout Neolithic diets. All of the human bones directly dated to theperiod after 5400 BP in southern Britain, from a variety of sites, had[Delta][sup.13]C values associated with a terrestrial food diet. Marinefoods were used by coastal Mesolithic peoples in southern Britain, asevidenced by the presence of shell middens dating to the lateMesolithic. Isotope analysis Isotope analysis is the identification of isotopic signature, the distribution of certain stable isotopes and chemical elements within chemical compounds. This can be applied to a food web to make it possible to draw direct inferences regarding diet, trophic level, and subsistence. of humans associated with late Mesolithicshell midden middendungheap. sites in coastal Europe has indicated that marine foods arean important part of human diets at those sites. Therefore, we concludethat associated with the introduction of Neolithic material culture intoBritain, either by immigrants or adopted by indigenous peoples, therewas a rapid move away from the use of marine resources, even at coastalsites. It may be possible that this is due to a rapid change in dietaway from wild foods to one in which the new Neolithic domesticatedplants and animals were predominant. Acknowledgements. We would like to thank Jill Cook, Frances Healy Frances (Franny) Healy (born August 24, 1970 in Limerick, Ireland) is an Irish actress, comedienne, radio personality and TV presenter. She is currently starring as Niamh Corrigan in the famous BBC Scotland soap opera River City. ,Silvia Gonzalez, Roger Jacobi, Roger Mercer Roger Mercer is a British archaeologist whose work has concentrated on the Neolithic and Bronze Age of the British Isles.Between 1970 and 1973 he led the excavations at Carn Brea in Cornwall and then went on to direct the excavations at Hambledon Hill and Grimes Graves, a , Paul Pettitt, RickSchulting, Alisdair Whittle and Michael Wysocki for permission to quotethe [Delta][sup.13]C values of their dated samples. We would also liketo thank Paul Pettitt and Rick Schulting for useful discussions on thepaper itself. This research is funded by the Social Science &Humanities Research Council of Canada and NERC NERC Natural Environment Research Council (UK)NERC North American Electric Reliability Corporation (Princeton, New Jersey, USA)NERC Northeast Recycling CouncilNERC National Environment Research Council . References AMBROSE, S.H. 1993. Isotopic i��so��tope?n.One of two or more atoms having the same atomic number but different mass numbers.[iso- + Greek topos, analysis of paleodiets: methodologicaland interpretive in��ter��pre��tive? also in��ter��pre��ta��tiveadj.Relating to or marked by interpretation; explanatory.in��terpre��tive��ly adv. considerations, in M.K. Sandford (ed.), Investigationsof ancient human tissue: chemical analyses in anthropology: 59-130.Langhorne (PA): Gordon & Breach Science Publishers. BARKER, G. 1985. Prehistoric farming in Europe. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press (known colloquially as CUP) is a publisher given a Royal Charter by Henry VIII in 1534, and one of the two privileged presses (the other being Oxford University Press). . CASE, H. 1969. Neolithic explanations, Antiquity 43: 176-86. DENNELL, R.W. 1983. European economic prehistory prehistory,period of human evolution before writing was invented and records kept. The term was coined by Daniel Wilson in 1851. It is followed by protohistory, the period for which we have some records but must still rely largely on archaeological evidence to . London: AcademicPress. GONZALEZ, S. & A. TURNER. In preparation. Prehistoric human andungulate ungulateAny hoofed, herbivorous, quadruped, placental mammal in three or four orders: Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates (including pigs, camels, deer, and bovines); Perissodactyla, the odd-toed ungulates (including horses, tapirs, and rhinoceroses); Proboscidea remains from Preston Dock, Lancashire: problems of river finds. GREEN, F.J. 1996. Mesolithic or later houses at Bowmans Farm,Romsey Extra, Hampshire, England?, in T. Darvill & J. Thomas (ed.),Neolithic houses in northwest Europe and beyond: 113-22. Oxford: Oxbow.Monograph 57. HEDGES, R.E.M., I.A. LAW, C.R. BRONK & R.A. HOUSLEY. 1989. TheOxford accelerator mass spectrometry accelerator mass spectrometryn.Mass spectroscopy in which a particle accelerator is used to disassociate molecules, ionize atoms, and accelerate the ions. facility: Technical developments inroutine dating, Archaeometry 31(2): 99-113. HEDGES, R.E.M., R.A. HOUSLEY, C. BRONK-RAMSEY & G.J. VANKLINKEN. 1994. Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS AMS - Andrew Message System system: Datelist18, Archaeometry 36(2): 337-74. LIDEN, K. 1995. Prehistoric diet transitions. Stockholm: Universityof Stockholm. LUBELL, D., M. JACKES, H. SCHWARCZ, M. KNYF & C. MEIKLEJOHN.1994. The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Portugal: Isotopic anddental evidence of diet, Journal of Archaeological Science Archaeological science (also known as Archaeometry) is the application of scientific techniques and methodologies to archaeology.Archaeological science can be divided into the following areas: 21: 201-16. PITTS, M.W. & R.M. JACOBI. 1979. Some aspects of change inflaked stone industries of the Mesolithic and Neolithic in SouthernBritain, Journal of Archaeological Science 6: 163-77. PRICE, T.D. 1997. The first farmers of southern Scandinavia, in D.Harris (ed.), The origins and spread of agriculture and pastoralism PastoralismArcadiamountainous region of ancient Greece; legendary for pastoral innocence of people. [Gk. Hist.: NCE, 136; Rom. Lit.: Eclogues; Span. Lit. inEurasia: 346-62. London: UCL UCL University College LondonUCL Universit�� Catholique de LouvainUCL UEFA Champions LeagueUCL Upper Confidence LimitUCL University of Central LancashireUCL Upper Control LimitUCL Unfair Competition LawUCL Ulnar Collateral Ligament Press. RICHARDS, M.P. 1998. Palaeodietary studies of European humanpopulations using bone stable isotopes. Unpublished D.Phil. thesis,University of Oxford. RICHARDS, M.P. & P. MELLARS. 1998. Stable isotopes and theseasonality of the Oronsay middens, Antiquity 72: 178-84. SCHOENINGER, M., M. DENIRO & H. TAUBER. 1983. Stable nitrogenisotope ratios of bone collagen reflect marine and terrestrialcomponents of prehistoric human diet, Science 220:1381-1383. SCHULTING, R.J. In press. New AMS dates from the Lambourn longbarow and the earliest Neolithic in southern Britain: repacking theNeolithic package?, Oxford Journal of Archaeology. SCHWARCZ, H. & M. SCHOENINGER. 1991. Stable isotope analyses inhuman nutritional ecology, Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 34:283-321. TAUBER, H. 1981. [sup.13]C evidence for dietary habits ofprehistoric man prehistoric man:see human evolution. in Denmark, Nature 292: 332-3. WHITTLE, A.W.R. 1996. Europe in the Neolithic: The creation of NewWorlds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. WILLIAMS, E. 1989. Dating the introduction of food production intoBritain and Ireland, Antiquity 63: 510-21. ZVELEBIL, M. & P.A. ROWLEY-CONWY. 1986. Foragers and farmers inAtlantic Europe Atlantic Europe is a geographical and anthropological term for the western portion of Europe which borders the Atlantic Ocean. At its widest definition, it comprises Spain, Portugal, north and western France, and the British Isles. , in M. Zvelebil (ed.), Hunters in transition: Mesolithicsocieties of temperate temperate/tem��per��ate/ (tem��per-at) restrained; characterized by moderation; as a temperate bacteriophage, which infects but does not lyse its host. tem��per��ateadj. Eurasia and their transition to farming: 67-94.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. M.P. RICHARDS & R.E.M. HEDGES, Richards & Hedges, ResearchLaboratory for Archaeology & the History of Art, University ofOxford, 6 Keble Road Keble Road is a short road running east-west in Oxford, England. To the west is the southern end of the Banbury Road with St Giles' Church opposite. To the east is Parks Road with the University Parks opposite. Blackhall Road leads off the road to the south near the western end. , Oxford OX1 3QJ, England. Richards, Department ofArchaeology, Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University,main campus at Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada; provincially supported; coeducational; chartered 1963, opened 1965. The Harbour Centre campus in downtown Vancouver opened in 1989. , Burnaby BC, Canada V5A 1S6. Received 23 September 1998, revised 3 December 1998, accepted 17March 1999, revised 31 March 1999.