Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values of bone and teeth reflect weaning age at the Medieval Wharram Percy site, Yorkshire, UK
✍ Scribed by M.P. Richards; S. Mays; B.T. Fuller
- Book ID
- 101460155
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2002
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 105 KB
- Volume
- 119
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0002-9483
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
We report on the measurements of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes of both bone and teeth from a single site and population (Medieval Wharram Percy), undertaken to explore variations due to weaning in a past population. There have been a number of recent studies of weaning using δ^15^N values of ribs, and we indicate a number of assumptions that must be met before the results of such studies can be correctly interpreted. We found that rib collagen δ^15^N values decrease to adult levels after age 2 years, indicating that weaning occurred at or before this age. Rib collagen δ^13^C values are also more enriched than adult δ^13^C values before age 2 years, and we argue that this is due to the so‐called “carnivore” effect in δ^13^C. We measured teeth and rib δ^15^N values from the same individuals and found that for individuals up to age 11 years, tooth dentine δ^15^N is higher than adult rib δ^15^N values, indicating that the dentine was formed during breast‐feeding and that there was almost no turnover of dentine since. We observed some decrease in δ^13^C and δ^15^N rib values, compared to adult rib and teeth values, for the few years after weaning that may relate to a theoretically predicted physiological nitrogen imbalance during this period of rapid growth, but this is more likely due to a childhood diet (up to age 9) which was isotopically different from later diet, possibly consisting of a greater proportion of plant foods. Am J Phys Anthropol 119:205–210, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.