Pour la première fois sur le Plateau iranien, Emmanuelle Casanova a pu caractériser les produits laitiers modernes traditionnel (notamment le Kashk ou la pâte de caséine) en provenance de la région du Zagros à l'aide de valeurs d’isotopes stables du carbone afin de fournir une gamme de référence locale pour l'identification des lipides laitiers dans des poteries archéologiques du Néolithique final et du Chalcolithique. De plus, la préservation des lipides dans les ossements a été étudiée pour évaluer leurs potentiels dans les études chronologiques et de paléodiète en alternative au collagène dans les cas ou ce dernier est dégradé.
Abstract: This paper presents the first investigations of lipids preserved in bones and ceramics, from sites of various ages and depositional environments in Iran with the aim of using them in palaeodietary and chronological reconstructions. We also characterized modern dairy products from the region using stable carbon isotope values to provide a local reference range for dairy lipid identification in archaeological ceramics. The dataset recorded on pottery suggests lipids are recovered in appreciable concentrations regardless of the environment or the age of settlements, but rather the vessel function may play an important role. The results showed exploitation of ruminant adipose and dairy products in pottery vessels from the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods. Our dataset suggests lipids in pottery are viable materials for palaeodietary and chronological reconstructions for the Iranian region. Lipid preservation in bones, similar to collagen, is more variable. Lipid and collagen preservation in bones are not directly related and one of the bones studied showed diagnostic lipids in a context of low collagen preservation. This suggests lipids have limited potential to be used for chronological reconstructions as an alternative to collagen when the latter does not survive.
Keywords: Lipid residue analysis; Collagen preservation; Stable isotopes; Dairy products
Emmanuelle Casanova, Hossein Davoudi, Antoine Zazzo, Niloufar Moghimi, Haeedeh Laleh, Zahra Lorzadeh, Shahram Ramin, Kamyar Abdi, Fereidoun Biglari, Xavier Gallet, Susan Pollock, Richard P. Evershed, Marjan Mashkour, Lipid preservation in ceramics and bones from the Iranian Plateau: Implications for dietary and chronological reconstructions,
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Volume 48, 2023, 103908, ISSN 2352-409X,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.103908.
https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1gj5B,rVDBfl02
