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Tracing the source of Upper Palaeolithic shell beads by strontium isotope dating
Journal of Archaeological Science 31 (2004) 1481e1488 http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jas
Tracing the source of Upper Palaeolithic shell beads by strontium isotope dating Marian Vanhaerena,b,), Francesco d’Erricoa, Isabelle Billyc, Francis Groussetc a
UMR 5808 CNRS, Institut de Pre´histoire et de Ge´ologie du Quaternaire, Universite´ Bordeaux I, Avenue des Faculte´s, F-33405 Talence, France b UMR 7041 CNRS, Arche´ologies et Sciences de l’Antiquite´, Ethnologie pre´historique, 21 alle´e de l’universite´ F-92023 Nanterre, France c UMR 5805 CNRS, Environnements et Pale´oenvironnements Oce´aniques, Universite´ Bordeaux I, Avenue des Faculte´s, F-33405 Talence, France Received 13 January 2004; received in revised form 10 March 2004
Abstract While the identification of the source of shells used as personal ornaments is crucial for determining home range and exchange networks of prehistoric hunter-gatherers, it is often difficult to identify the coastal versus fossil origin of the shells as most genera used as beads were available both at beaches and fossil outcrops. Here we present the first application of 87Sr/86Sr isotope dating to identify the origin of Upper Palaeolithic shell beads. We analysed four out of a collection of one thousand Dentalium shells associated to the La Madeleine child burial dated to 10; 190G100 BP and one Dentalium from the occupation layers of this site. 87 Sr/86Sr ratios indicate that shells were collected by Late Upper Palaeolithic beadworkers on far away beaches rather than at nearer Miocene outcrops. This may be due to the narrowness of Miocene Dentalium shells, incompatible with the size of bone needles used to sew these shell beads on clothes. Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Sr isotopes; Personal ornaments; Grave goods; Dentalium shell; Magdalenian; Azilian; Exchange networks
1. Introduction Shell ornaments are often used to identify possible cultural boundaries and exchange networks among Upper Palaeolithic human groups. Discovery at Mediterranean sites of shell species collected on Atlantic shores such as Littorina littorea, Littorina obtusata and Nucella lapillus and, conversely, of Mediterranean species such as Cyclope neritea, Homalopoma sanguineum, and Columbella rustica at sites located in the South-West of France and the North of Europe, is interpreted as evidence for long distance travelling or trade [1e3,5,10,15e19,21,25,27,36e40,42e44]. Similar interpretations are proposed for fossil Eocene shells ) Corresponding author. UMR 7041 CNRS, Arche´ologies et Sciences de l’Antiquite´, Ethnologie pre´historique, 21 alle´e de l’universite´ F-92023 Nanterre, France. Tel.: C33-1-46-69-24-16; fax: C33-1-46-29-24-17. E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Vanhaeren). 0305-4403/$ - see front matter Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2004.03.011
from the Parisian basin found at Belgian sites, Miocene shells from Charente and Aquitaine recovered at sites in the Dordogne region, and Pliocene specimens from the Rhoˆne valley identified at sites located in the Liguria, Italy [17,18,10,42]. The coastal versus fossil origin of shell ornaments remains however difficult to establish for genera available at late Pleistocene shores as well as at paleontological outcrops. Species identification may solve the problem when diagnostic features are preserved, but this is rarely the case. The source of shells collected today at beaches and fossil outcrops may be inferred from state of preservation, shade and patina. However, modifications of shell beads due to manufacture, use, and post-depositional alteration often obscure these features on archaeological specimens. Here we present the first application of Strontium isotope dating as a means for identifying the source of Upper Palaeolithic shell ornaments. The variation in the ratio of 87Sr and 86Sr isotopes is a well known method to determine the age of marine deposits and correlate them globally
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[12,13,35,28]. Governed by the flux from mid-ocean ridge volcanism and continental weathering, the seawater 87Sr/86Sr ratio is known over the last 500 Ma [28]. Correlation to this standard curve of 87Sr/86Sr ratios measured on three Neolithic ornaments made of Spondylus shells has already been successfully used to identify their source [41]. On the continent, 87Sr/86Sr ratios depend on the local environment and Sr measurements on human teeth and bones have been used by archaeologists to identify human migrations [33,34,6,26]. To test the potential of Sr isotope analysis to trace the source of Palaeolithic shell beads, we measured the 87 Sr/86Sr ratio of four out of the 1314 Dentalium shells associated to the Late Upper Palaeolithic child burial from the La Madeleine site in south-western France, and of one out of 39 Dentalium shells from the occupation layers of the same site. This burial is directly dated by 14C AMS and the age and location of the main fossil outcrops where the shells could have been collected (Fig. 1) are known [11,42]. The 87Sr/86Sr ratios for marine shells, including Dentalium, from these outcrops are also known [7,12]. The former provides the likely date for shells collected by Magdalenian hunter-gatherers on beaches; the latter identifies the possible sources of shells gathered from paleontological sites.
2. Archaeological context The La Madeleine child burial was discovered in 1926 by Peyrony [9] in the eponymous site of the Magdalenian, near Tursac, in the Dordogne region of France. The skeleton is from a 3e7 year old child and recently was dated directly by AMS to 10; 190G100 BP (GifA 95457), i.e. between 10,200 and 9600 cal BC [20]. The single drawing of the burial made during the excavation shows that the child lay straight on her/his back and that a multitude of ornaments were located on the head and around the neck, elbows, wrists, knees and ankles (Fig. 2a). No information is available on the precise location of each of these ornaments. They include (Fig. 2bem) two perforated red deer and two fox canines, a perforated rabbit phalange and perforated marine shells (176 Neritina, 42 Turritella, 24 Cyclope, 1 Glycymeris) and 1314 Dentalium shells [45,46]. A rabbit humerus and a fish vertebra, both bearing natural perforations, were found close to the skeleton and present the same heavy ochre staining affecting the skeleton and the personal ornaments. The cultural attribution of the burial is problematic. Peyrony considered the area of the site where it was found as reworked and attributed the burial to the ‘‘Magdalenian IV’’ on the basis of harpoon fragments found at the same depth. The AMS date obtained on the skeleton is compatible with an attribution to the very Late Magdalenian as to the Early Azilian of the region
Fig. 1. Top: Map of South-West of France with the location of the La Madeleine site and Miocene fossil outcrops from Saucats-La Bre`de. Coastline at 10 ka BP is indicated by a solid line, present day coast by an interrupted line. Bottom: Geological map with the location of the La Madeleine site (white dot). C3EZ: MiddleeUpper Coniacian, C4BS: Lower Santonian, C4MZ: Middle Santonian, A, E, C, FC, FX: Quaternary formations.
and the personal ornaments are similar to those from the Magdalenian occupation layers of the site [45]. The technological analysis of the Dentalium shells reveals that they were purposely broken by flexion or sawing to produce small standardized tubular beads of about 6 mm in length [45]. The discovery in the museum collection of a lump of sediment preserving the pristine
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Fig. 2. (a) Sketch of the La Madeleine burial with location of the personal ornaments (after [9: p. 122]). (bem) Personal ornaments associated to the burial (b: Dentalium sp., c: Neritina sp., d: Turritella sp., e: Cyclope sp., f: Glycymeris sp., geh: red deer canines, iej: fox canines, k: lagomorph phalanx, l: lagomorph humerus, m: fish vertebra). The last two specimens (lem), which bear natural perforations, were found associated to the skeleton and present a red staining similar to that observed on the other grave goods.
arrangement of five of these beads and the identification of a peculiar use wear pattern reveal that the tubes were sewn vertically, one next to the other, to create horizontal alignments of similar beads (Fig. 2b). Similar although vertical alignments of Dentalium shells are observed at the contemporary Natufian burials from El-Wad, Israel [4]. Morphometric analysis of the Dentalium beads associated to the La Madeleine child [45: p. 214, 225] has
shown that their length is significantly smaller (p ¼ 0:0001) than that of beads from the occupation layers of this site (16.6 mm in average) and from the contemporary adult burials of the Aven des Iboussie`res, south-eastern France (14.5 mm in average). It has also shown that the choice for small specimens also concerns the other shell ornaments associated to the La Madeleine burial. Such miniaturisation suggests the presence, in the Late Magdalenian, of beadworks specially made for children.
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3. Materials and methods Four Dentalium shells from the burial and one from the Magdalenian layers of the site (Fig. 3) were selected for Sr isotope analysis. Given the destructive nature of the technique, the sample size was fixed by the curatorial staff of the Muse´e National de Pre´histoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, France, where the La Madelaine collection is kept. Except one specimen from the burial bearing eight heavy longitudinal striae (Fig. 3d), the others have a smooth surface. Natural and anthropic modifications make it difficult to determine the shells at the species level and to find out whether they come from Quaternary or Miocene deposits. Smooth and striated Dentalium species are attested in both contexts [32,11]. Sample size was restricted to five specimens. Shells were photographed, measured and examined under reflected light microscope to record natural and anthropic features before their destruction for Sr isotope analysis. The elemental composition of red pigment adherent to the shell surfaces was determined by Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy. The external layers of the shells were dissolved using ultrasound mechanical agitation in a 0.6N-HCl solution to remove pigment residues (MgeFe oxides) and possible calcite resulting from recrystallisation of the original shell aragonite. This etching removed about 50% of the shells external coating. Sr was chemically separated through cationic chromatographic columns, in a ‘‘class-1000’’ clean laboratory. We followed chemical and mass spectrometer techniques previously described [22]. TIMS analysis of the samples was done at the University of Toulouse, France, using a Finnigan MAT 261 multi-detector mass spectrometer. Sr was mounted as nitrate on a W filament. All the measurements were made using multiple Faraday cups. The measured 87Sr/86Sr ratios were corrected for mass fractionation by normalizing to 86 Sr=88 Sr ¼ 0:1194. Blanks were measured (Sr ! 109 g) and are considered to be negligible in all cases. Strontium standard NIST 987
Fig. 3. Dentalium shell beads from the La Madeleine burial (aed) and occupation layers (e) dated by Sr isotope analysis. Scale Z 1 cm.
was measured 6 times at Toulouse with an average 87 Sr=86 Sr ¼ 0:710205 (G0.00002), versus the certified value of 0.710245. Although being within the range of the uncertainty of the sample measurements, differences between the analysed and certified values were corrected. Our mass-spectrometer provided the required fifth significant digit in the ratio’s value. The shell ages were established by reference to the 87 Sr/86Sr isotope record published by Farrell et al. [14].
4. Results Two of the three smooth Dentalium shells from the burial (Figs. 3a,c and 4, Table 1) and the one from the occupation layers of the site (Figs. 3e and 4, Table 1) reveal an 87Sr/86Sr ratio close to present day values (w0.7092). The third smooth Dentalium from the burial (Figs. 3b and 4, Table 1) provides a slightly lower value, compatible with an age ranging between the present and 1 Ma. The striated shell from the burial (Figs. 3d and 4, Table 1) has an 87Sr/86Sr ratio corresponding to an age between 0.7 and 1.9 Ma. All these ratios significantly differ from those available for Dentalium shells from the Miocene outcrops of the region (Fig. 4, Table 1). Noteworthy, the ratios measured on fossil Dentalium are virtually identical to those obtained from shells belonging to six other genera (Anadara, Glycimeris, Turritella, Donax, Nuculana, Oxistele) from the same biostratigraphic unit [7].
5. Discussion The 87Sr/86Sr ratio in Dentalium shells recovered from an archaeological site depends essentially on the ratio of the ocean water in which they lived and, in case of postdepositional diagenesis, on that of the water responsible for the recrystallisation of the original shell aragonite into calcite [28]. Although calcite resulting from this process was in principle removed from our shells by substantial acid leaching, only subsequent XRD analysis of crystallinity could have completely ruled out diagenetic contamination of the samples. Sample weight after leaching was insufficient to perform both Sr and XRD analyses. Therefore we cannot exclude that 87Sr/86Sr ratios of La Madeleine Dentalium shells are biased by meteoritic waters, and must consider this possibility when extrapolating age estimates from Sr determinations. The La Madeleine rock shelter is formed in Cretaceous, more precisely Coniacian, limestone (Fig. 1). This 85 Ma old formation is characterised (Fig. 4) by a very low 87Sr/86Sr ratio (w0.7075) [13,23]. If meteoritic water with an 87Sr/86Sr ratio influenced by the Sr content of the local bedrock produced a calcite layer on the beads and this deposit was not completely eliminated by shell
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M. Vanhaeren et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 31 (2004) 1481e1488 87Sr
/ 86Sr
0.7095
La Madeleine
0.7090
Burdigalian (Miocene) 18 Ma Coniacian (Cretaceous) 88 Ma
0.7085 0.7080 0.7075 0.7070 N
0.7065
87Sr
K
P
O
50
100
J 150
Tr 200
P 250
Carb
300 Age (Ma)
D 350
O
S 400
450
Cam 500
550
/ 86Sr
0.70920
La Madeleine Dentalium shells 0.70915
a
0.70910
0.70905
0.70900
0.70895 1
0
2
3
d b
4
5
6
7
Age (Ma)
c a e
Fig. 4. Evolution of the 87Sr/86Sr ratio of seawater and values obtained for the La Madeleine Dentalium shell beads and for the Miocene outcrop of Saucats-La Bre`de (top: modified after McArthur et al. [28], bottom: modified after Farrell et al. [14]).
leaching, the obtained 87Sr/86Sr value would be altered in the direction of the local bedrock. Since the 87Sr/86Sr ratios of marine shells that may have been collected by La Madeleine people on contemporary beaches and at Miocene outcrops are much higher than that of the Coniacian, one may expect that a contamination of samples by diagenetic calcite would in both cases lower the Sr values, hence generating older age estimates. Contamination does not seem to significantly affect the three La Madeleine shells (a, c, e) with present day
Sr ratios. There is no doubt that these Dentalium shells were collected on beaches and not at Miocene outcrops by Tardiglacial hunter-gatherers. In contrast, a diagenetic contamination may account for the lower Sr ratios obtained on the two remaining specimens (b, d). The alternative interpretation is that the two specimens with lower Sr figures and in particular Dentalium d, the only one with longitudinal striae, may derive from an Early Quaternary deposit. No such deposits with Dentalium shells are signalled in the region and the closest marine
1486 Table 1 Weight,
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87
Sr/86Sr and age estimates of Dentalium shells from La Madeleine burial, occupation layers, and Sauctas-La Bre`de Miocene outcrops
Context
La La La La La
Madeleine Madeleine Madeleine Madeleine Madeleine
burial burial burial burial occupation layer
Le´ognan (Burdigalian)b Saucats (Burdigalian)b a b c d
Sr/86Sr
Sample weight (mg)a
87
2.4 4.8 4.1 1.3 1.2
0.709204 0.709170 0.709201 0.709131 0.709206
e e
0.708489 0.708520
G2 sigma
Age (My)
Fig. 3
Minimum
Maximum
G0.000032 G0.000010 G0.000016 G0.000014 G0.000010
0c 0c 0c 0.65c 0c
0.58c 1.07c 0.81c 1.9c 0.3c
a b c d e
G0.000024 G0.000032
19.78d 19.27d
20.23d 19.73d
e e
After leaching surface oxides. Data after De Paolo and Ingram [14]. Estimated according to the evolution of 87Sr/86Sr published by Farrell et al. [14]. Estimated according to the evolution of 87Sr/86Sr published by Oslick et al. [30].
deposits attributed to the Lower/Middle Pleistocene are those of the Me´doc (Fig. 1), near the Atlantic coast, some 200 km west of the La Madeleine site [29]. Whatever the case, all five specimens have provided 87 Sr/86Sr ratios that are ‘‘recent’’ compared to those characteristic of old Tertiary shell accumulations, which excludes their provenance from Miocene outcrops. At the time of the La Madeleine burial the sea level was ca. 45 m lower [31] and the closest shoreline 35 km farther than today. Miocene outcrops, which could provide Late Magdalenians with large quantities of shells of this genus were at that time ca. 50 km closer to the site than the closest shorelines where the Dentalium shells from the burial and the occupation site may well have been collected. Why then these people preferred to collect shells from the beach? Morphometric analysis of the Dentalium shells from the burial, present day Atlantic shores and Miocene outcrops [45: p. 210, pp. 215e220] shows that Miocene Dentalium are significantly narrower than those from the burial and that only few of them can provide tubular segments as wide as those associated to the child. Such segments could instead be easily produced, according to the morphometry of Dentalium from present day beaches, by snapping and/or sawing the wider scaphopoda available at these last sites. The presence on the archaeological shells of fractures similar to those produced experimentally when forcing a bone needle through a Dentalium bead [45: p. 217] suggests that La Madeleine beadworkers needed tubular beads bearing openings compatible with the diameter of their needles. The morphometry of the 70 needles recovered from La Madeleine occupation layers [45: p. 219] reveals that virtually none of them can pass through the tubular beads that one can manufacture with Miocene Dentalium shells. The widest openings one may obtain by snapping Miocene Dentalium shells do not exceed 1.9 mm while the maximum diameter of the needles ranges between 1.9 and 4.4 mm with a mean of 2.7 mm. In contrast, the smallest among these needles could sew
most of the Dentalium beads associated to the child, which have openings ranging between 1.6 and 2.9 mm. Therefore, the reason for using wide Dentalium shells, only available at beaches, probably depends on the technical difficulty to produce thin bone needles that are robust enough to pierce skins and wide enough to bear perforations compatible with trusty threads.
6. Conclusion Strontium isotopic analysis appears an effective mean to attribute an age to shells used as personal ornaments by Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers and infer from this result where the shells may have been collected. The measurement of the 87Sr/86Sr ratio currently represents the only method which allows an age attribution to shells older than 40 ka BP. Joint application of XRD analysis to large enough specimens can identify possible diagenetic contamination and evaluate the bias it may introduce in the age attribution and source identification. Contrary to the tiny La Madeleine Dentalium beads many shell ornaments from Palaeolithic sites have a size that allows sampling for Sr and XRD analysis without significantly altering the object appearance. Also, collections of shell beads from burial and occupation sites often consist of dozens if not hundreds of shells. Therefore the loss of archaeological material resulting from these analyses may be considered as tolerable. In sum, we have shown that 87Sr/86Sr dating of shell beads offers valuable information on their potential source and, by extension, on home range and exchange networks of prehistoric hunter-gatherers. Combined with a technological and morphometric analysis of the beads, information on the shell provenance may provide a better insight into the role played by bead acquisition, manufacture and use in those societies and their function as ethnolinguistic, social and individual markers.
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Acknowledgements We thank Jean-Jacques Cleyet-Merle and Andre´ Morala, Muse´e National de Pre´histoire of Les Eyziesde-Tayac, for facilitating our study of the archaeological material and giving permission for Sr analysis. We also thank Norbert Clauer for constructive discussions on shell diagenesis. Bruno Cahuzac, Jean Tastet, Laurent Londeix and Jean-Louis Turon provided useful information on Sr isotope dating and its application to Miocene deposits. Philippe Rocher has facilitated access to the Saucats La-Bre`de paleontological collections. Isotopic measurements were conducted at University Paul Sabatier (Toulouse, France). Five anonymous referees made helpful and insightful comments on an earlier draft of this article. This research was funded by the OMLL program of the European Science Foundation, the ACI Espaces et Territoires of the French Ministry of Research and Technology, and a CNRS postdoctoral grant to M.V.
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Tracing the source of Upper Palaeolithic shell beads by strontium isotope dating Marian Vanhaerena,b,), Francesco d’Erricoa, Isabelle Billyc, Francis Groussetc a
UMR 5808 CNRS, Institut de Pre´histoire et de Ge´ologie du Quaternaire, Universite´ Bordeaux I, Avenue des Faculte´s, F-33405 Talence, France b UMR 7041 CNRS, Arche´ologies et Sciences de l’Antiquite´, Ethnologie pre´historique, 21 alle´e de l’universite´ F-92023 Nanterre, France c UMR 5805 CNRS, Environnements et Pale´oenvironnements Oce´aniques, Universite´ Bordeaux I, Avenue des Faculte´s, F-33405 Talence, France Received 13 January 2004; received in revised form 10 March 2004
Abstract While the identification of the source of shells used as personal ornaments is crucial for determining home range and exchange networks of prehistoric hunter-gatherers, it is often difficult to identify the coastal versus fossil origin of the shells as most genera used as beads were available both at beaches and fossil outcrops. Here we present the first application of 87Sr/86Sr isotope dating to identify the origin of Upper Palaeolithic shell beads. We analysed four out of a collection of one thousand Dentalium shells associated to the La Madeleine child burial dated to 10; 190G100 BP and one Dentalium from the occupation layers of this site. 87 Sr/86Sr ratios indicate that shells were collected by Late Upper Palaeolithic beadworkers on far away beaches rather than at nearer Miocene outcrops. This may be due to the narrowness of Miocene Dentalium shells, incompatible with the size of bone needles used to sew these shell beads on clothes. Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Sr isotopes; Personal ornaments; Grave goods; Dentalium shell; Magdalenian; Azilian; Exchange networks
1. Introduction Shell ornaments are often used to identify possible cultural boundaries and exchange networks among Upper Palaeolithic human groups. Discovery at Mediterranean sites of shell species collected on Atlantic shores such as Littorina littorea, Littorina obtusata and Nucella lapillus and, conversely, of Mediterranean species such as Cyclope neritea, Homalopoma sanguineum, and Columbella rustica at sites located in the South-West of France and the North of Europe, is interpreted as evidence for long distance travelling or trade [1e3,5,10,15e19,21,25,27,36e40,42e44]. Similar interpretations are proposed for fossil Eocene shells ) Corresponding author. UMR 7041 CNRS, Arche´ologies et Sciences de l’Antiquite´, Ethnologie pre´historique, 21 alle´e de l’universite´ F-92023 Nanterre, France. Tel.: C33-1-46-69-24-16; fax: C33-1-46-29-24-17. E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Vanhaeren). 0305-4403/$ - see front matter Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2004.03.011
from the Parisian basin found at Belgian sites, Miocene shells from Charente and Aquitaine recovered at sites in the Dordogne region, and Pliocene specimens from the Rhoˆne valley identified at sites located in the Liguria, Italy [17,18,10,42]. The coastal versus fossil origin of shell ornaments remains however difficult to establish for genera available at late Pleistocene shores as well as at paleontological outcrops. Species identification may solve the problem when diagnostic features are preserved, but this is rarely the case. The source of shells collected today at beaches and fossil outcrops may be inferred from state of preservation, shade and patina. However, modifications of shell beads due to manufacture, use, and post-depositional alteration often obscure these features on archaeological specimens. Here we present the first application of Strontium isotope dating as a means for identifying the source of Upper Palaeolithic shell ornaments. The variation in the ratio of 87Sr and 86Sr isotopes is a well known method to determine the age of marine deposits and correlate them globally
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[12,13,35,28]. Governed by the flux from mid-ocean ridge volcanism and continental weathering, the seawater 87Sr/86Sr ratio is known over the last 500 Ma [28]. Correlation to this standard curve of 87Sr/86Sr ratios measured on three Neolithic ornaments made of Spondylus shells has already been successfully used to identify their source [41]. On the continent, 87Sr/86Sr ratios depend on the local environment and Sr measurements on human teeth and bones have been used by archaeologists to identify human migrations [33,34,6,26]. To test the potential of Sr isotope analysis to trace the source of Palaeolithic shell beads, we measured the 87 Sr/86Sr ratio of four out of the 1314 Dentalium shells associated to the Late Upper Palaeolithic child burial from the La Madeleine site in south-western France, and of one out of 39 Dentalium shells from the occupation layers of the same site. This burial is directly dated by 14C AMS and the age and location of the main fossil outcrops where the shells could have been collected (Fig. 1) are known [11,42]. The 87Sr/86Sr ratios for marine shells, including Dentalium, from these outcrops are also known [7,12]. The former provides the likely date for shells collected by Magdalenian hunter-gatherers on beaches; the latter identifies the possible sources of shells gathered from paleontological sites.
2. Archaeological context The La Madeleine child burial was discovered in 1926 by Peyrony [9] in the eponymous site of the Magdalenian, near Tursac, in the Dordogne region of France. The skeleton is from a 3e7 year old child and recently was dated directly by AMS to 10; 190G100 BP (GifA 95457), i.e. between 10,200 and 9600 cal BC [20]. The single drawing of the burial made during the excavation shows that the child lay straight on her/his back and that a multitude of ornaments were located on the head and around the neck, elbows, wrists, knees and ankles (Fig. 2a). No information is available on the precise location of each of these ornaments. They include (Fig. 2bem) two perforated red deer and two fox canines, a perforated rabbit phalange and perforated marine shells (176 Neritina, 42 Turritella, 24 Cyclope, 1 Glycymeris) and 1314 Dentalium shells [45,46]. A rabbit humerus and a fish vertebra, both bearing natural perforations, were found close to the skeleton and present the same heavy ochre staining affecting the skeleton and the personal ornaments. The cultural attribution of the burial is problematic. Peyrony considered the area of the site where it was found as reworked and attributed the burial to the ‘‘Magdalenian IV’’ on the basis of harpoon fragments found at the same depth. The AMS date obtained on the skeleton is compatible with an attribution to the very Late Magdalenian as to the Early Azilian of the region
Fig. 1. Top: Map of South-West of France with the location of the La Madeleine site and Miocene fossil outcrops from Saucats-La Bre`de. Coastline at 10 ka BP is indicated by a solid line, present day coast by an interrupted line. Bottom: Geological map with the location of the La Madeleine site (white dot). C3EZ: MiddleeUpper Coniacian, C4BS: Lower Santonian, C4MZ: Middle Santonian, A, E, C, FC, FX: Quaternary formations.
and the personal ornaments are similar to those from the Magdalenian occupation layers of the site [45]. The technological analysis of the Dentalium shells reveals that they were purposely broken by flexion or sawing to produce small standardized tubular beads of about 6 mm in length [45]. The discovery in the museum collection of a lump of sediment preserving the pristine
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Fig. 2. (a) Sketch of the La Madeleine burial with location of the personal ornaments (after [9: p. 122]). (bem) Personal ornaments associated to the burial (b: Dentalium sp., c: Neritina sp., d: Turritella sp., e: Cyclope sp., f: Glycymeris sp., geh: red deer canines, iej: fox canines, k: lagomorph phalanx, l: lagomorph humerus, m: fish vertebra). The last two specimens (lem), which bear natural perforations, were found associated to the skeleton and present a red staining similar to that observed on the other grave goods.
arrangement of five of these beads and the identification of a peculiar use wear pattern reveal that the tubes were sewn vertically, one next to the other, to create horizontal alignments of similar beads (Fig. 2b). Similar although vertical alignments of Dentalium shells are observed at the contemporary Natufian burials from El-Wad, Israel [4]. Morphometric analysis of the Dentalium beads associated to the La Madeleine child [45: p. 214, 225] has
shown that their length is significantly smaller (p ¼ 0:0001) than that of beads from the occupation layers of this site (16.6 mm in average) and from the contemporary adult burials of the Aven des Iboussie`res, south-eastern France (14.5 mm in average). It has also shown that the choice for small specimens also concerns the other shell ornaments associated to the La Madeleine burial. Such miniaturisation suggests the presence, in the Late Magdalenian, of beadworks specially made for children.
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3. Materials and methods Four Dentalium shells from the burial and one from the Magdalenian layers of the site (Fig. 3) were selected for Sr isotope analysis. Given the destructive nature of the technique, the sample size was fixed by the curatorial staff of the Muse´e National de Pre´histoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, France, where the La Madelaine collection is kept. Except one specimen from the burial bearing eight heavy longitudinal striae (Fig. 3d), the others have a smooth surface. Natural and anthropic modifications make it difficult to determine the shells at the species level and to find out whether they come from Quaternary or Miocene deposits. Smooth and striated Dentalium species are attested in both contexts [32,11]. Sample size was restricted to five specimens. Shells were photographed, measured and examined under reflected light microscope to record natural and anthropic features before their destruction for Sr isotope analysis. The elemental composition of red pigment adherent to the shell surfaces was determined by Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy. The external layers of the shells were dissolved using ultrasound mechanical agitation in a 0.6N-HCl solution to remove pigment residues (MgeFe oxides) and possible calcite resulting from recrystallisation of the original shell aragonite. This etching removed about 50% of the shells external coating. Sr was chemically separated through cationic chromatographic columns, in a ‘‘class-1000’’ clean laboratory. We followed chemical and mass spectrometer techniques previously described [22]. TIMS analysis of the samples was done at the University of Toulouse, France, using a Finnigan MAT 261 multi-detector mass spectrometer. Sr was mounted as nitrate on a W filament. All the measurements were made using multiple Faraday cups. The measured 87Sr/86Sr ratios were corrected for mass fractionation by normalizing to 86 Sr=88 Sr ¼ 0:1194. Blanks were measured (Sr ! 109 g) and are considered to be negligible in all cases. Strontium standard NIST 987
Fig. 3. Dentalium shell beads from the La Madeleine burial (aed) and occupation layers (e) dated by Sr isotope analysis. Scale Z 1 cm.
was measured 6 times at Toulouse with an average 87 Sr=86 Sr ¼ 0:710205 (G0.00002), versus the certified value of 0.710245. Although being within the range of the uncertainty of the sample measurements, differences between the analysed and certified values were corrected. Our mass-spectrometer provided the required fifth significant digit in the ratio’s value. The shell ages were established by reference to the 87 Sr/86Sr isotope record published by Farrell et al. [14].
4. Results Two of the three smooth Dentalium shells from the burial (Figs. 3a,c and 4, Table 1) and the one from the occupation layers of the site (Figs. 3e and 4, Table 1) reveal an 87Sr/86Sr ratio close to present day values (w0.7092). The third smooth Dentalium from the burial (Figs. 3b and 4, Table 1) provides a slightly lower value, compatible with an age ranging between the present and 1 Ma. The striated shell from the burial (Figs. 3d and 4, Table 1) has an 87Sr/86Sr ratio corresponding to an age between 0.7 and 1.9 Ma. All these ratios significantly differ from those available for Dentalium shells from the Miocene outcrops of the region (Fig. 4, Table 1). Noteworthy, the ratios measured on fossil Dentalium are virtually identical to those obtained from shells belonging to six other genera (Anadara, Glycimeris, Turritella, Donax, Nuculana, Oxistele) from the same biostratigraphic unit [7].
5. Discussion The 87Sr/86Sr ratio in Dentalium shells recovered from an archaeological site depends essentially on the ratio of the ocean water in which they lived and, in case of postdepositional diagenesis, on that of the water responsible for the recrystallisation of the original shell aragonite into calcite [28]. Although calcite resulting from this process was in principle removed from our shells by substantial acid leaching, only subsequent XRD analysis of crystallinity could have completely ruled out diagenetic contamination of the samples. Sample weight after leaching was insufficient to perform both Sr and XRD analyses. Therefore we cannot exclude that 87Sr/86Sr ratios of La Madeleine Dentalium shells are biased by meteoritic waters, and must consider this possibility when extrapolating age estimates from Sr determinations. The La Madeleine rock shelter is formed in Cretaceous, more precisely Coniacian, limestone (Fig. 1). This 85 Ma old formation is characterised (Fig. 4) by a very low 87Sr/86Sr ratio (w0.7075) [13,23]. If meteoritic water with an 87Sr/86Sr ratio influenced by the Sr content of the local bedrock produced a calcite layer on the beads and this deposit was not completely eliminated by shell
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M. Vanhaeren et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 31 (2004) 1481e1488 87Sr
/ 86Sr
0.7095
La Madeleine
0.7090
Burdigalian (Miocene) 18 Ma Coniacian (Cretaceous) 88 Ma
0.7085 0.7080 0.7075 0.7070 N
0.7065
87Sr
K
P
O
50
100
J 150
Tr 200
P 250
Carb
300 Age (Ma)
D 350
O
S 400
450
Cam 500
550
/ 86Sr
0.70920
La Madeleine Dentalium shells 0.70915
a
0.70910
0.70905
0.70900
0.70895 1
0
2
3
d b
4
5
6
7
Age (Ma)
c a e
Fig. 4. Evolution of the 87Sr/86Sr ratio of seawater and values obtained for the La Madeleine Dentalium shell beads and for the Miocene outcrop of Saucats-La Bre`de (top: modified after McArthur et al. [28], bottom: modified after Farrell et al. [14]).
leaching, the obtained 87Sr/86Sr value would be altered in the direction of the local bedrock. Since the 87Sr/86Sr ratios of marine shells that may have been collected by La Madeleine people on contemporary beaches and at Miocene outcrops are much higher than that of the Coniacian, one may expect that a contamination of samples by diagenetic calcite would in both cases lower the Sr values, hence generating older age estimates. Contamination does not seem to significantly affect the three La Madeleine shells (a, c, e) with present day
Sr ratios. There is no doubt that these Dentalium shells were collected on beaches and not at Miocene outcrops by Tardiglacial hunter-gatherers. In contrast, a diagenetic contamination may account for the lower Sr ratios obtained on the two remaining specimens (b, d). The alternative interpretation is that the two specimens with lower Sr figures and in particular Dentalium d, the only one with longitudinal striae, may derive from an Early Quaternary deposit. No such deposits with Dentalium shells are signalled in the region and the closest marine
1486 Table 1 Weight,
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87
Sr/86Sr and age estimates of Dentalium shells from La Madeleine burial, occupation layers, and Sauctas-La Bre`de Miocene outcrops
Context
La La La La La
Madeleine Madeleine Madeleine Madeleine Madeleine
burial burial burial burial occupation layer
Le´ognan (Burdigalian)b Saucats (Burdigalian)b a b c d
Sr/86Sr
Sample weight (mg)a
87
2.4 4.8 4.1 1.3 1.2
0.709204 0.709170 0.709201 0.709131 0.709206
e e
0.708489 0.708520
G2 sigma
Age (My)
Fig. 3
Minimum
Maximum
G0.000032 G0.000010 G0.000016 G0.000014 G0.000010
0c 0c 0c 0.65c 0c
0.58c 1.07c 0.81c 1.9c 0.3c
a b c d e
G0.000024 G0.000032
19.78d 19.27d
20.23d 19.73d
e e
After leaching surface oxides. Data after De Paolo and Ingram [14]. Estimated according to the evolution of 87Sr/86Sr published by Farrell et al. [14]. Estimated according to the evolution of 87Sr/86Sr published by Oslick et al. [30].
deposits attributed to the Lower/Middle Pleistocene are those of the Me´doc (Fig. 1), near the Atlantic coast, some 200 km west of the La Madeleine site [29]. Whatever the case, all five specimens have provided 87 Sr/86Sr ratios that are ‘‘recent’’ compared to those characteristic of old Tertiary shell accumulations, which excludes their provenance from Miocene outcrops. At the time of the La Madeleine burial the sea level was ca. 45 m lower [31] and the closest shoreline 35 km farther than today. Miocene outcrops, which could provide Late Magdalenians with large quantities of shells of this genus were at that time ca. 50 km closer to the site than the closest shorelines where the Dentalium shells from the burial and the occupation site may well have been collected. Why then these people preferred to collect shells from the beach? Morphometric analysis of the Dentalium shells from the burial, present day Atlantic shores and Miocene outcrops [45: p. 210, pp. 215e220] shows that Miocene Dentalium are significantly narrower than those from the burial and that only few of them can provide tubular segments as wide as those associated to the child. Such segments could instead be easily produced, according to the morphometry of Dentalium from present day beaches, by snapping and/or sawing the wider scaphopoda available at these last sites. The presence on the archaeological shells of fractures similar to those produced experimentally when forcing a bone needle through a Dentalium bead [45: p. 217] suggests that La Madeleine beadworkers needed tubular beads bearing openings compatible with the diameter of their needles. The morphometry of the 70 needles recovered from La Madeleine occupation layers [45: p. 219] reveals that virtually none of them can pass through the tubular beads that one can manufacture with Miocene Dentalium shells. The widest openings one may obtain by snapping Miocene Dentalium shells do not exceed 1.9 mm while the maximum diameter of the needles ranges between 1.9 and 4.4 mm with a mean of 2.7 mm. In contrast, the smallest among these needles could sew
most of the Dentalium beads associated to the child, which have openings ranging between 1.6 and 2.9 mm. Therefore, the reason for using wide Dentalium shells, only available at beaches, probably depends on the technical difficulty to produce thin bone needles that are robust enough to pierce skins and wide enough to bear perforations compatible with trusty threads.
6. Conclusion Strontium isotopic analysis appears an effective mean to attribute an age to shells used as personal ornaments by Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers and infer from this result where the shells may have been collected. The measurement of the 87Sr/86Sr ratio currently represents the only method which allows an age attribution to shells older than 40 ka BP. Joint application of XRD analysis to large enough specimens can identify possible diagenetic contamination and evaluate the bias it may introduce in the age attribution and source identification. Contrary to the tiny La Madeleine Dentalium beads many shell ornaments from Palaeolithic sites have a size that allows sampling for Sr and XRD analysis without significantly altering the object appearance. Also, collections of shell beads from burial and occupation sites often consist of dozens if not hundreds of shells. Therefore the loss of archaeological material resulting from these analyses may be considered as tolerable. In sum, we have shown that 87Sr/86Sr dating of shell beads offers valuable information on their potential source and, by extension, on home range and exchange networks of prehistoric hunter-gatherers. Combined with a technological and morphometric analysis of the beads, information on the shell provenance may provide a better insight into the role played by bead acquisition, manufacture and use in those societies and their function as ethnolinguistic, social and individual markers.
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Acknowledgements We thank Jean-Jacques Cleyet-Merle and Andre´ Morala, Muse´e National de Pre´histoire of Les Eyziesde-Tayac, for facilitating our study of the archaeological material and giving permission for Sr analysis. We also thank Norbert Clauer for constructive discussions on shell diagenesis. Bruno Cahuzac, Jean Tastet, Laurent Londeix and Jean-Louis Turon provided useful information on Sr isotope dating and its application to Miocene deposits. Philippe Rocher has facilitated access to the Saucats La-Bre`de paleontological collections. Isotopic measurements were conducted at University Paul Sabatier (Toulouse, France). Five anonymous referees made helpful and insightful comments on an earlier draft of this article. This research was funded by the OMLL program of the European Science Foundation, the ACI Espaces et Territoires of the French Ministry of Research and Technology, and a CNRS postdoctoral grant to M.V.
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