Pleistocene

Charcoal is perhaps the oldest known fuel, having been found in archeological sites dating as far back as the Pleistocene era. Charcoal is a relatively smokeless and odorless fuel, and thus ideal for cooking and heating. 

Late Pleistocene Lake Saline Compared with Those in Lake Michigan S Sediments. Environ. Geo. 1973 14 pp. 

Manias, W. G., Covey, M., and Stallard, R. E. (1985). The effects of provenance and diagenesis on clay content and crystallinity in Miocene through Pleistocene deposits, southwestern Taiwan. Petrol. Geol. Taiwan 173-185. 

Peltier, W. R. (1987). Glacial isostasy, mantle viscosity and Pleistocene climatic change. In North America and Adjacent Oceans during the last deglaciation. "The Geology of North America," Vol. K-3 (W. F. Ruddiman and H. E. Wright, Jr, eds), pp. 155-182. Geological Society of America, Boulder, CO. 

Saltzman, B. and Verbitsky, M. (1994). Late Pleistocene climatic trajectory in the phase space of global ice, ocean state, and CO2 Observations and theory. Paleoceanography 9(6), 767-779. 

Shackleton, N. J. (1967). Oxygen isotope analyses and Pleistocene temperatures re-assessed. Nature 215, 15-17. 

Shackleton, N. J., Berger, A., and Peltier, W. R. (1990). An alternative astronomical calibration of the lower Pleistocene timescale based on ODP Site 677. Trans R. Soc. Edin. Earth Sci. 81,251-261. 

There are also indications that climate-related shifts in wood 5 C of 1 to 3%o have occurred in time such shifts have been observed at the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary (Becker et al. 1991 Van de Water et al. 1994), and at later (Epstein and Krishnamurthy 1990) and earlier times (Aucour et al. 1993 Leavitt and Danzer 1992). Other temporal variations in plants can be seasonal (Leavitt and Long 1991 Loader et al. 1995). 

Fizet, M., Mariotti, A. and Bocherens, H. 1995 Effect of diet, physiology and climate on carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes of collagen in a Late Pleistocene anthropic palaeoecosystem Marillac, Charente, France. Journal of Archaeological Science 22 67-79. 

These isotopic differences between tissues within individuals between species and trophic levels can be used to check the preservation of the isotopic signatures in Pleistocene samples of cold temperate and arctic enviromnents. 

In this paper, I attempt to refine the predictable isotopic differences between collagen and carbonate that can be found in modem faunas from temperate and cold areas, using samples from Europe, Siberia and northwestern North America. Some of the results presented here have been published previously (Bocherens et a/. 1991a, 1991b, 1994, 1995a, 1995b, 1 6 Bocherens and Mariotti 1992 Fizet et al. 1995) but additional new data are reviewed as well in order to present a new synthesis. This should provide a framework that can be used to assess the quality of preservation of the isotopic signatures in Pleistocene mammal bones and teeth from these areas. 

Capreolus capreolus dwelling in a forest 35 km south-west of Paris have negative 6 N values, ranging from -2.8 to -0.4%o, probably because of local acidic soil conditions and the very territorial habits of this deer species (Rodiere et al. 1996). Such differences between habitats should be confirmed by further studies in modem imdisturbed ecosystems. This would provide a very useful framework for understanding sources of variation in Pleistocene species. 

The approach proposed to check the preservation of isotopic signatures in Pleistocene samples from cold and temperate areas is to look for these specific signatures whenever possible, by selecting the appropriate specimens in the studied localities, before trying to interpret isotopic variations in fossil samples. The next section will provide examples of this approach in several cases published for Eurasia and Alaska. 

Figure 4.8. 6 C and 8 N values of bone collagen from Pleistocene Alaskan mammals (-10,000 - 40.000BP) compared with those of recent Alaskan mammals. Isotopic abundances of Pleistocene mammals are from Bocherens et al. (1995a).

Figure 4.10. Differences in 6 N values between bone and dentine collagen from Pleistocene and recent mammals. Isotopic abundances are from Bocherens et al. (1994, 1995b) and this paper.

Figure 4.11. Average collagen ( c ) and carbonate hydroxylapatite ( a ) 8 C values in modem and Pleistocene herbivores, carnivores and bears. Isotopic abundances for modem samples are from this paper, those for Kent s Cavern samples are from Bocherens et al. (1995b) and those for other Pleistocene localities are from Bocherens et al. (1994).

Prospects for stable isotopic analysis of Later Pleistocene honiinid diets in West Asia... 

Bocherens, H., Fizet, M., Mariotti, A., Billion, D., Bellon, G., Borel, J.R and Simone, S. 1991h Biogeochimie isotopique C C, N, 0) et paleoecologie des ours Pleistocenes de la grotte d Aldene. Bulletin du Musee d Anthropologic Prehistorique de Monaco 34 29-49. 

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