Stable isotope evidence for dietary patterns and environmental conditions at Tell Leilan, Syria, ca. 1900-2900 B.C.

"Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in preserved protein from prehistoric bone have been used extensively to trace the dietary patterns of ancient human groups. The isotopic analysis of 16 individuals, ranging in age from birth to adult, from the site of Tell Leilan, Syria, revealed a terrestrial-based diet largely composed of C$\sb3$ plants, with the additional consumption of meat and legumes. Methodological investigations suggested that a weak acid solution provides the best means of isolating protein from poorly preserved skeletal samples. Some researchers have suggested that at approximately 2200 B.C., a marked drying trend induced considerable degradation of land-use conditions at and around the site of Tell Leilan, which apparently led to an occupational hiatus that lasted for roughly 300 years. Chronological comparisons of isotope ratios in this study, however, do not indicate that the diet of these people changed between 2900 and 1900 B.C."