Reservoir effect of archaeological samples from Steppe Bronze Age cultures in Southern Russia

Article // Radiocarbon. — 2014. — Vol 56, Nr 2 — Pp. 767–778.Human and animal bone collagen from different Steppe Bronze Age cultures, including the Yamnaya, East Manych Catacomb, and Lola cultures, show large variations in δ13C and δ15N values. More positive values of δ13C and δ15N are caused by change in diet and/or a more arid climate. Human bones show reservoir effects caused by aquatic diet components. These effects can be quantified by paired dating of human bone and associated terrestrial samples. Previous research showed reservoir corrections for several cultures of the Eurasian steppes Bronze Age, leading to a revision of the local chronologies. Additional investigations showed that some paired dates do not reveal reservoir effects. Recently, our database was extended significantly with new 13C, 15N, and 14C analyses of the Lola, Krivaya, and Babino cultures. The size of the reservoir offset for the studied cultures is discussed.