Stable Isotope Study On Ancient Populations Of Central Sudan: Insights On Their Diet And Environment

ObjectivesA contribution to the knowledge of the economy and the environmental surroundings of the populations living along the Nile valley in three different periods.Materials and methodsThis study reports stable isotope analyses on apatite bone samples of 139 humans, 48 mammals, and 43 fish from the Al Khiday archaeological sites in Sudan. The bones belong to four archaeological periods: pre-Mesolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Meroitic. Data were processed statistically.ResultsA significant difference exists between the pre-Mesolithic and Mesolithic mean O-18(w) value and the mean of the modern Nile. The mean O-18(w) values for the Neolithic humans and bovids are very similar (+1.5 +/- 4 parts per thousand, and -2 parts per thousand, respectively) and more positive than the mean values of Mesolithic mammals and Pre-Mesolithic humans. The water ingested by Meroitic humans (+7 parts per thousand +/- 2.5 parts per thousand) is enriched in O-18 in respect to the water ingested by the Neolithic population. There is a separation in the C-13(diet) values between the pre-Mesolithic humans (-14 parts per thousand +/- 1 parts per thousand) and Mesolithic mammals (-12 parts per thousand +/- 2 parts per thousand) group and the Neolithic humans (-18 parts per thousand +/- 1 parts per thousand), Meroitic humans (-19 parts per thousand +/- 1 parts per thousand), Neolithic mammals (-21 parts per thousand), and the modern (mean C-13(diet)=-19 parts per thousand +/- 2 parts per thousand) mammal group.DiscussionThe climate became warmer and more arid from the pre-Mesolithic/Mesolithic to the Meroitic period. The environmental conditions influenced the strategies of subsistence and, in particular, the changes occurring from the pre-Mesolithic to the Neolithic can be considered contemporaneous to the transition from hunting-gathering-fishing to cultivation-herding. Am J Phys Anthropol 160:498-518, 2016. (c) 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.