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The 14-carbon in animal tissues records the time that the tissues are formed; since the 1960s, using the “bomb curve” for 14 C, the age of animal death can be determined accurately. Using animal tissue samples of known collection and formation dates for calibration, we determine the age of ivory samples from four ivory seizures made by law enforcement agencies between 2017 and 2019. The 14 C measurements from these seizures show that most ivory in the illegal wildlife trade is from animals from recent poaching activities. However, one seizure has a large fraction of ivory that is more than 30 y old, consistent with markings on the tusks indicating they were derived from a government stockpile.

Studies of Rancho La Brea predators have yielded disparate dietary interpretations when analyzing bone collagen vs. enamel carbonate—requiring a better understanding of the relationship between stable carbon isotopes in these tissues. Stable carbon isotope spacing between collagen and carbonate (Δ ca-co ) has also been used as a proxy for inferring the trophic level of mammals, with higher Δ ca-co values indicative of high carbohydrate consumption. To clarify the stable isotope ecology of carnivorans, past and present, we analyzed bone collagen (carbon and nitrogen) and enamel carbonate (carbon) of extinct and extant North American felids and canids, including dire wolves, sabertooth cats, coyotes, and pumas, supplementing these with data from African wild dogs and African lions. Our results reveal that Δ ca-co values are positively related to enamel carbonate values in secondary consumers and are less predictive of trophic level. Results indicate that the foraging habitat and diet of prey affects Δ ca-co in carnivores, like herbivores. Average Δ ca-co values in Pleistocene canids (8.7+/−1‰) and felids (7.0+/−0.7‰) overlap with previously documented extant herbivore Δ ca-co values suggesting that trophic level estimates may be relative to herbivore Δ ca-co values in each ecosystem and not directly comparable between disparate ecosystems.more »Physiological differences between felids and canids, ontogenetic dietary differences, and diagenesis at Rancho La Brea do not appear to be primary drivers of Δ ca-co offsets. Environmental influences affecting protein and fat consumption in prey and subsequently by predators, and nutrient routing to tissues may instead be driving Δ ca-co offsets in extant and extinct mammals.« less

A compilation of radiocarbon measurements is used to characterize deep-sea overturning since the last ice age.

Indigenous societies adopted horses of primarily Spanish origin before Europeans arrived in the Great Plains and the American West.

Sexual division of labor with females as gatherers and males as hunters is a major empirical regularity of hunter-gatherer ethnography, suggesting an ancestral behavioral pattern. We present an archeological discovery and meta-analysis that challenge the man-the-hunter hypothesis. Excavations at the Andean highland site of Wilamaya Patjxa reveal a 9000-year-old human burial (WMP6) associated with a hunting toolkit of stone projectile points and animal processing tools. Osteological, proteomic, and isotopic analyses indicate that this early hunter was a young adult female who subsisted on terrestrial plants and animals. Analysis of Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene burial practices throughout the Americas situate WMP6 as the earliest and most secure hunter burial in a sample that includes 10 other females in statistical parity with early male hunter burials. The findings are consistent with nongendered labor practices in which early hunter-gatherer females were big-game hunters.

ABSTRACT The direct carbonate procedure for accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14 C) dating of submilligram samples of biogenic carbonate without graphitization is becoming widely used in a variety of studies. We compare the results of 153 paired direct carbonate and standard graphite 14 C determinations on single specimens of an assortment of biogenic carbonates. A reduced major axis regression shows a strong relationship between direct carbonate and graphite percent Modern Carbon (pMC) values (m = 0.996; 95% CI [0.991–1.001]). An analysis of differences and a 95% confidence interval on pMC values reveals that there is no significant difference between direct carbonate and graphite pMC values for 76% of analyzed specimens, although variation in direct carbonate pMC is underestimated. The difference between the two methods is typically within 2 pMC, with 61% of direct carbonate pMC measurements being higher than their paired graphite counterpart. Of the 36 specimens that did yield significant differences, all but three missed the 95% significance threshold by 1.2 pMC or less. These results show that direct carbonate 14 C dating of biogenic carbonates is a cost-effective and efficient complement to standard graphite 14 C dating.