The Diets of the People at Neolithic Catalhoyuk
The excavation of materials from the Catalhoyuk site in central Turkey has yielded more than 100 houses together with over 400 hundred human remains and millions of animal bones. Through the use of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis, researchers have been able to explore the remains and interpret the results. Animal remains from the middens near the buildings where people were buried revealed little evidence that would demonstrate a clear dietary relationship. This suggested that there was no clear evidence to enable house-by-house diet construction. The archeological remains indicate occurrences of double and triple burials. However, analysis of the people buried in the same house indicated that there is a possibility that such individuals had different diets. Therefore, the article posits that the diets of the people at Neolithic Catalhoyuk were structured and repetitious. Furthermore, the evidence presented indicates that the houses could not have served as simple domestic units as previously assumed since the diets of inhabitants varied.
Temporal and Spatial Variation in Isotope Analysis
Archeological research has advanced significantly due to the introduction of the analytical techniques from material science. Although this has increased the accuracy of analyzing archeological materials, traditional archeological concepts and methods are still needed in the interpretation of material science data. Baseline research that is required for the researchers to make conclusions of the patterns in the isotope data derived from skeletal remains is the spatial and temporal variation. The temporal and spatial analysis helps the authors to create a baseline for the isotope data for the fauna element of the fauna elements (Pearson et al. 2015: 75). During data interpretation, this information is important in the reconstruction of the human diet for the people. With the temporal and spatial knowledge of the archeological materials from the site, the researchers could understand whether the animals identified from the remains were part of the human diet or were parts that shared a food chain in the area (Pearson et al. 2015: 75). Furthermore, understanding the temporal and spatial variation of the isotope data helped the researchers to determine whether the middens, that were previously thought to comprise of full diet for the human beings, consisted of only the dietary items or were just collections and depositions of bones for their symbolic elements instead of human food waste (Pearson et al. 2015: 76). This spatial and temporal data required in the interpretation of isotope analysis differ for humans and animals. For animals such as those that ate the plants rich in C4, their great concentrations were at the areas of grasslands and hence were used for hunting.
Stable Isotope Analysis and Dietary Habits
The understanding of the results of the isotope studies is enhanced by the knowledge of formation processes and the concept of an archaeological concept. The stable isotope analysis presents information about the dietary habits of animals. The data from the bone collagen indicate the levels of proteins consumed. Since this protein consumed goes in building the body, it remains in the body for long period of time and can be used to infer the nature of food consumed (Pearson et al. 2015: 70). The differences in the stable isotope analysis data between people are therefore attributed to the food that is eaten repeatedly rather than a one-course meal such as those eaten at infrequent feasts (Pearson et al. 2015: 70). Therefore, the bone is primarily affected by the diet consumed and bone formation can be analyzed through stable analysis.
Work Cited
Pearson, Jessica A., et al. "Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis at Neolithic Çatalhöyük: evidence for human and animal diet and their relationship to households." Journal of Archaeological Science 57 (2015): 69-79. Print.
