TY - JOUR
T1 - Life, Death and Teeth of Late Neolithic Sheep and Red Deer Excavated at Ness of Brodgar, Orkney Islands (UK)
AU - Blanz, Magdalena
AU - Balasse, Marie
AU - Card, Nick
AU - Ascough, Philippa
AU - Fiorillo, Denis
AU - Taggart, Mark A.
AU - Feldmann, Jörg
AU - Mainland, Ingrid
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2022/11/15
Y1 - 2022/11/15
N2 - The faunal remains from the late Neolithic site of Ness of Brodgar on the Orkney Islands (UK) provide a unique opportunity to investigate past adaptations of animal husbandry strategies to the Northern island environment, as well as the potential management of red deer. In this study, sheep and red deer mandibles and loose teeth (dP4 & M3) from the Ness of Brodgar were studied to construct age-at-death profiles, and analysed for δ13C, δ15N and δ18O. The mortality profile showed that around half of the analysed sheep were slaughtered when they reached maturity (i.e. after 2–4 years of life), consistent with a husbandry regime targeted at meat production. The stable isotope evidence indicates seaweed consumption in winter by several sheep (domesticates), but not by red deer (wild, possibly managed fauna). This dietary difference may have resulted from anthropogenically mediated influences, e.g. restriction of red deer habitats to upland areas. The varying extent of seaweed consumption between individual sheep and between Neolithic Orkney sites suggests differences in sheep husbandry practices across Orkney, indicating that the adaptation to consume seaweed was not ubiquitous on Orkney in the Neolithic, and did not follow a linear development.
AB - The faunal remains from the late Neolithic site of Ness of Brodgar on the Orkney Islands (UK) provide a unique opportunity to investigate past adaptations of animal husbandry strategies to the Northern island environment, as well as the potential management of red deer. In this study, sheep and red deer mandibles and loose teeth (dP4 & M3) from the Ness of Brodgar were studied to construct age-at-death profiles, and analysed for δ13C, δ15N and δ18O. The mortality profile showed that around half of the analysed sheep were slaughtered when they reached maturity (i.e. after 2–4 years of life), consistent with a husbandry regime targeted at meat production. The stable isotope evidence indicates seaweed consumption in winter by several sheep (domesticates), but not by red deer (wild, possibly managed fauna). This dietary difference may have resulted from anthropogenically mediated influences, e.g. restriction of red deer habitats to upland areas. The varying extent of seaweed consumption between individual sheep and between Neolithic Orkney sites suggests differences in sheep husbandry practices across Orkney, indicating that the adaptation to consume seaweed was not ubiquitous on Orkney in the Neolithic, and did not follow a linear development.
KW - Animal husbandry
KW - birth seasonality
KW - Late Neolithic Orkney
KW - palaeodietary modelling
KW - seaweed consumption
KW - stable isotope ratios (δCδN δO)
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U2 - 10.1080/14614103.2022.2146320
DO - 10.1080/14614103.2022.2146320
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85142214883
SN - 1461-4103
JO - Environmental Archaeology
JF - Environmental Archaeology
ER -