Interpreting early land management through compound specific stable isotope analyses of archaeological soils

Compound specific stable isotope analyses of managed soils using isotope ra tio mass spectrometry have been undertaken as a means of determining early land use practices. delta(15)N amino acid signals demonstrate differences b etween manured grassland, unmanured grassland and continuous cereal cultiva tion under long-term experimental land use control conditions, with delta(1 5)N in hydrophobic amino acids providing the most distinctive signals, Anal ysis of early modern/medieval and of Bronze age anthropogenic soils from Or kney demonstrates that such signals are retained in archaeological contexts . delta(13)C analyses of n-alkanoic acid components of the fossil, Bronze A ge, anthropogenic soils suggest a major terrestrial input to these soils, w ith uniform composition of formation materials, Surficial soils demonstrate the assimilation of isotopically lighter carbon, providing a means of asse ssing the mobility of the n-alkanoic acids within soils and sediments. Copy right (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.