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Strontium isotope analysis of archaeological fauna at the Erlitou site

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Abstract

The Erlitou site is located at Yanshi City, Henan Province. This site is a large settlement site of Erlitou culture, and it is dated to 3800–3500 a BP. Five kinds of domestic animals, i.e., dogs, pigs, sheep, goats, and cattle were found from the site. In this paper, two problems have emerged in studies involving the estimation of local isotope levels and the distinction of migrants from locals. Tooth enamel samples from 17 domestic animals individuals were analyzed for strontium isotope ratio (87Sr/86Sr), by the thermal ionization mass spectrometry, including 10 pigs, 5 sheep and 2 cattle. The results show that the mean 87Sr/86Sr ratios of 10 pigs enamel samples were 0.712078, Based on the local strontium isotopes ratio range determined by the mean 87Sr/86Sr ratios ±2σ of 10 pig enamel samples (0.712256–0.711900), we found that five sheep and one cattle from the Erlitou site fell well outside the local strontium isotopes ratio range and were considered to be non-local.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Archeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, 100710, China

    ChunYan Zhao, Jie Yang, Jing Yuan, ZhiPeng Li, Hong Xu, HaiTao Zhao & GuoLiang Chen

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  1. ChunYan Zhao
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Correspondence to ChunYan Zhao.

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Zhao, C., Yang, J., Yuan, J. et al. Strontium isotope analysis of archaeological fauna at the Erlitou site. Sci. China Earth Sci. 55, 1255–1259 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-012-4400-9

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