title: Stable isotope study on ancient populations of central sudan: Insights on their diet and environment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A contribution to the knowledge of the economy and the environmental surroundings of the populations living along the Nile valley in three different periods.
  
  
  METHODS
  This 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.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A significant difference exists between the pre-Mesolithic and Mesolithic mean δ(18) Ow value and the mean of the modern Nile. The mean δ(18) Ow values for the Neolithic humans and bovids are very similar (+1.5‰ ±4‰, and -2‰, respectively) and more positive than the mean values of Mesolithic mammals and Pre-Mesolithic humans. The water ingested by Meroitic humans (+7‰ ± 2.5‰) is enriched in (18) O in respect to the water ingested by the Neolithic population. There is a separation in the δ(13) Cdiet values between the pre-Mesolithic humans (-14‰ ± 1‰) and Mesolithic mammals (-12‰ ± 2‰) group and the Neolithic humans (-18‰ ± 1‰), Meroitic humans (-19‰ ±1‰), Neolithic mammals (-21‰), and the modern (mean δ(13) Cdiet  = -19‰ ±2‰) mammal group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The 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. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica e Scienze della Terra "M. Melloni", Università degli Studi di Parma, Parco, Area delle Scienze 157/A, 43100 Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Iacumin
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica e Scienze della Terra "M. Melloni", Università degli Studi di Parma, Parco, Area delle Scienze 157/A, 43100 Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonietta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Matteo
authors.affiliation: Centro Studi Sudanesi e Sub-Sahariani, Via Canizzano, 128/D, 31100 Treviso, Italy.
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Usai
authors.affiliation: Centro Studi Sudanesi e Sub-Sahariani, Via Canizzano, 128/D, 31100 Treviso, Italy.
authors.forename: Sandro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Salvatori
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica e Scienze della Terra "M. Melloni", Università degli Studi di Parma, Parco, Area delle Scienze 157/A, 43100 Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Giampiero
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Venturelli
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000885:Anthropology, Physical; D001031:Apatites / Q000737:chemistry; D002247:Carbon Isotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D002417:Cattle; D004032:Diet / Q000266:history*; D004777:Environment; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005399:Fishes; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D010103:Oxygen Isotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D012272:Ribs / Q000737:chemistry; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013397:Sudan
chemical_list: D001031:Apatites; D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D010103:Oxygen Isotopes
keywords: Central Sudan; diet reconstruction; environment reconstruction; pre-Mesolithic to Meroitic; stable carbon and oxygen isotopes