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Anyone see this study? Peaked my interest and thought others may find it interesting
Strontium isotope (87Sr/86Sr) variability in the Nile Valley: Identifying residential mobility during ancient Egyptian and Nubian sociopolitical changes in the New Kingdom and Napatan periods
quote:The 87Sr/86Sr data presented in this study indicate the utility of this technique for identifying the presence of immigrant Egyptians in Nubia. The faunal remains included in this study reveal that animals used for meat and dairy were likely pastured in locations with varying geological composition. The examination of samples from the site of Tombos suggest that while Egyptians were present during the New Kingdom occupation of Nubia at this site, there is no evidence that Egyptians continued to migrate to Nubia during the subsequent development of the Napatan state. The majority of individuals buried at Tombos during the Third Intermediate and Napatan periods fall within the local signature. Two individuals fall below the local range with values that could be representative of a southern Nubian locale. While the specific movement from one site to another within the Nile Valley cannot likely be determined using 87Sr/86Sr analysis, this study has demonstrated that technique is useful in addressing specific research questions, such as the contribution of immigrant Egyptians to the population composition of ancient Nubian sites.
Given the observation of "overlap" in dental collection of Strontium isotopes, then this would mean that there is no clear delineation between potential "Nubian" and "Egyptian" specimens, other than the authors reckoning that individuals, whose value doesn't fit into the modal variants, must be from elsewhere.
The faunal collection--by virtue of being pastured in "locations with varying geological composition--could not give any clear determination of likely sources, and so, were likely inadequate to infer the direction of human movement?
-------------------- The Complete Picture of the Past tells Us what Not to Repeat Posts: 7516 | From: Somewhere on Earth | Registered: Jan 2008
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quote:Originally posted by Calabooz1996: Anyone see this study? Peaked my interest and thought others may find it interesting
Strontium isotope (87Sr/86Sr) variability in the Nile Valley: Identifying residential mobility during ancient Egyptian and Nubian sociopolitical changes in the New Kingdom and Napatan periods
quote:The 87Sr/86Sr data presented in this study indicate the utility of this technique for identifying the presence of immigrant Egyptians in Nubia. The faunal remains included in this study reveal that animals used for meat and dairy were likely pastured in locations with varying geological composition. The examination of samples from the site of Tombos suggest that while Egyptians were present during the New Kingdom occupation of Nubia at this site, there is no evidence that Egyptians continued to migrate to Nubia during the subsequent development of the Napatan state. The majority of individuals buried at Tombos during the Third Intermediate and Napatan periods fall within the local signature. Two individuals fall below the local range with values that could be representative of a southern Nubian locale. While the specific movement from one site to another within the Nile Valley cannot likely be determined using 87Sr/86Sr analysis, this study has demonstrated that technique is useful in addressing specific research questions, such as the contribution of immigrant Egyptians to the population composition of ancient Nubian sites.
Good find, CB. Yes, this reminds me of the Ethiopian/Eritrean chemical signature Dominy and Moritz found in hairs from (mummified) Baboons that were obtained via trade with Punt. This technique has a lot of potential in terms of supplementing cranio-metric analysis in the near future, especially to get more information out of skeletal remains that display cranio-facial patterns that are not very informative in terms of ethnic origin.
Posts: 8785 | From: Discovery Channel's Mythbusters | Registered: Dec 2009
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Strontium is a radioactive nuclide that can be introduced in your body and it's pathway can be traced by monitoring it's radioactivity.It is used primarily to study bones and it has a half-life of 2.8 hours.
Posts: 121 | From: Guyana | Registered: Mar 2012
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"The distribution of human samples in the Nile Valley
The 87Sr/86Sr values in the human samples clearly overlap in all of the sites studied (Fig. 3). However, when examining the median 87Sr/86Sr values for all of the human samples, the Egyptian sites have higher 87Sr/86Sr values than the Nubian sites (Fig. 3, Table 2), many of which are statistically significantly different (Table 3). Additionally, median 87Sr/86Sr values appear to decrease from north to south in the Nile Valley for the sites studied (Fig. 3). There are two exceptions to this trend: Amara West and Tombos New Kingdom samples (Table 2). What is notable about these two sites is that they are both New Kingdom Egyptian towns with ample archaeological evidence of a strong Egyptian presence (Smith, 2003; Spencer, 2009), which may explain the higher 87Sr/86Sr values. While it is clear that 87Sr/86Sr values of Egyptians and Nubians overlap and concretely identifying Egyptians and Nubians in a sample is far from straightforward, the distributions and median values indicate that 87Sr/86Sr analyses can provide some information about possible immigrant individuals within the context of specific research questions."- Michele R. Buzon1, Antonio Simonetti
quote:Originally posted by Swenet Good find, CB. Yes, this reminds me of the Ethiopian/Eritrean chemical signature Dominy and Moritz found in hairs from (mummified) Baboons that were obtained via trade with Punt. This technique has a lot of potential in terms of supplementing cranio-metric analysis in the near future, especially to get more information out of skeletal remains that display cranio-facial patterns that are not very informative in terms of ethnic origin.
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