Study of Preservation Status and Dietary Reconstruction in the Human Remains Recovered from Roopkund Lake through Chemical Analysis of Faunal Remains

Present study is carried out in the bone samples collected from Roopkund Lake in district Chamoli Garhwal, Uttarakhand which is located at 5,029 meters from main sea level in between Nanda Ghunghti and Trishuli peak. This historical site belongs to 9th century A.D. All the samples selected for the study were dried in room temperature as well as hot air oven at 32 ~C. Cleaning, pretreatment and digestion process of faunal remains was followed through established scientific methods. Chemical analysis i.e. concentration of different elements such as calcium, strontium, barium, magnesium and zinc as well as isotopic ratios of Carbon and Nitrogen was estimated with the help of ICP （inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy） and AAS （atomic absorption spectrophotometer）. The results obtained from the chemical analysis are significant. On the basis of concentration of different elements and ratios of Nitrogen and Carbon isotopes, the dietary habits of the peoples buried in the Roopkund Lake are identified, which is different from sample to sample person to person. Besides this, the results are also significantly helpful for knowing the preservation status of faunal remains in Roopkund Lake. Finally this study also indicated the potentiality of chemical analysis for reconstructing the palaeodiet behaviour and preservation status of bone remains.

Feeding prehistoric coastal community:A study of marine faunal remains at the Jingtoushan site

This article examines the abundant marine mollusc,and fish remains at the Jingtoushan shell midden(8,300 to7,800 cal a BP)in Zhejiang Province,China,to investigate the fishing economy,community development,the palaeoenvironment,and their interactions among the prehistoric populations in the lower Yangtze River Basin and southeastern coastal China.It also attempts to explore the prosperity and decline of coastal settlements in China during the Neolithic Age and the potential reasons for their rise and fall,respectively.Based on the ecological and biological principles of marine animals,standard zooarchaeological methods and radiocarbon dating analysis are used for sampling,identification,measurement,and quantification.Results show that at least 11 mollusc taxa and 14 fish taxa can be identified from the Jingtoushan faunal assemblage.The ancient Jingtoushan residents possibly lived in a settlement close to the coast and engaged in inshore and offshore fishing,hunting,and gathering as their primary subsistence strategies,with low-level rice cultivation as a supplementary means of sustenance.Eventually,the changes in the coastal environment could be one of the reasons why the Jingtoushan residents abandoned their settlement.The research contributes to Chinese Neolithic archaeology with new evidence of the exploitation of marine resources around 8000 a BP in the eastern coastal areas and the relationship between Neolithic community development and environmental changes.

Food resources of the Khog Gzung site on the Tibetan Plateau revealed by sedimentary ancient DNA

Traditional zooarchaeological and archaeobotanical methods based on morphological identification of the excavated faunal and floral remains have been broadly used in reconstructing ancient subsistence economies. However, the accuracy and reliability of these methods rely heavily on the preservation state of the remains. By sequencing the ancient DNA of plants,animals, and microorganisms preserved in sediment, sedimentary ancient DNA(sedaDNA) now offers a novel approach for reconstructing the taxa composition dated back to hundreds of thousands of years. Yet, its application in open-air archaeological sites is rarely reported. In this study, we attempted to apply sedaDNA shotgun metagenomics on the archaeological deposits of the Khog Gzung site(an open-air site dated to 3160–2954 cal yr BP) on the Tibetan Plateau, and then compared the reconstructed taxonomic composition to the unearthed remains. Results showed that most of the crops and domestic animals identified by the two approaches, such as barley(Hordeum vulgare) and sheep(Ovis aries), are in general consistent. Some species, such as foxtail millet(Setaria italica), however, were only detected by sedaDNA. In addition, a variety of microorganisms were also detected by the sedaDNA. The two approaches combined revealed diversified food resources at the Khog Gzung site, which included crops such as millet, barley and wheat, domestic animals such as sheep and cattle, and likely also wild animals from fishing and hunting. Our data proves that sedaDNA has a great potential in reconstructing the faunal and floral compositions from archaeological deposits, therefore laying the foundation for its border applications.