The paper is open access.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2109315119
A Neandertal dietary conundrum: Insights provided by tooth
enamel Zn isotopes from Gabasa, Spain

Significance
Neandertals’ diets are a topic of continued debate, especially since
their disappearance has been frequently attributed to their
subsistence strategy. There is no clear consensus on how variable
their diets were in time and space. Isotope studies have helped
quantify meat consumption in Neandertals, but usually rely on
nitrogen isotope analyses of collagen, a protein rarely preserved
in samples older than 50 ka. Moreover, collagen extraction for
isotope analyses is rarely successful in Iberian skeletal material.
Here, we employ zinc isotope analysis of dental enamel of a
Neandertal and associated fauna (Gabasa, Spain), which can be
applied to contexts >50 ka. This proxy confirms a high level of
carnivory in an Iberian Neandertal.

Abstract
The characterization of Neandertals’ diets has mostly relied on
nitrogen isotope analyses of bone and tooth collagen. However,
few nitrogen isotope data have been recovered from bones or
teeth from Iberia due to poor collagen preservation at Paleolithic
sites in the region. Zinc isotopes have been shown to be a reliable
method for reconstructing trophic levels in the absence of organic
matter preservation. Here, we present the results of zinc (Zn),
strontium (Sr), carbon (C), and oxygen (O) isotope and trace
element ratio analysis measured in dental enamel on a Pleistocene
food web in Gabasa, Spain, to characterize the diet and ecology of
a Middle Paleolithic Neandertal individual. Based on the extremely
low δ66Zn value observed in the Neandertal’s tooth enamel, our
results support the interpretation of Neandertals as carnivores as
already suggested by δ15N isotope values of specimens from
other regions. Further work could help identify if such isotopic
peculiarities (lowest δ66Zn and highest δ15N of the food web)
are due to a metabolic and/or dietary specificity of the
Neandertals.

"The Diet of a Neandertal at Gabasa.
"Our results demonstrate that the Neandertal individual from Gabasa
shows a Zn isotope signature of a top-level carnivore, similar to that
observed for nitrogen isotopes for other sites with Neandertal
occupation. Carbon and oxygen isotope and trace element data
suggest that the individual inhabited the local area around the cave
(SI Appendix, Sections S6 and S7). Of all the animal taxa analyzed in
Gabasa, the Neandertal specimen easily exhibits lowest Zn isotope
ratio."

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Primum Sapienti wrote:

The paper is open access.

As I've pointed out many, Many, MANY times in the past:

If you eat any predators, you absorb the isotopes from those
predators. I'm over simplifying here but, eat two predators,
have twice the predatory signature...

Cannibalism works.

If wolves eat deer and you eat deer, you test the same. If you
eat the wolf, on the other hand, you're taking in the isotopes
of all the deer it ate...

Again, I'm over simplifying. The point here is that these numbers
are very easily skewed. They are not gospel. They support any
number of conclusions. Always.





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https://jtem.tumblr.com/post/698577848100896768

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https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2109315119

"The consumption of marine foods is also attested for coastal Neandertals,
but its frequency cannot be truly assessed in the absence of isotope studies."

This says enough of the biases of so many paleo-anthropologists.
They haven't even compared to marine or freshwater pisci- or molluscivores!!!

Hn diet had simply a waterside diet, probably + plenty of shellfish.

Only incredible idiots believe their Pleistocene ancestors ran after antelopes.

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Somebody sent this:
https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2109315119
"A Neandertal dietary conundrum: Insights provided by tooth enamel Zn isotopes from Gabasa, Spain.
Hn diets are a topic of continued debate, esp. since their disappearance has been frequently attributed to their subsistence strategy.
There is no clear consensus on how variable their diets were in time & space. Isotope studies have helped quantify Hn meat consumption, but usu. rely on N-isotope analyses of collagen (rarely preserved in samples >50 ka),
collagen extraction for isotope analyses is rarely successful in Iberian skeletal material.
Here, we employ Zn-isotope analysis of dental enamel of a Hn & associated fauna (Gabasa), which can be applied to contexts >50 ka.
This proxy confirms a high level of carnivory in an Iberian Hn.
... Based on the extremely low δ66Zn value observed in the Hn’s tooth enamel, our results support the interpretation of Hn as carnivores as already suggested by δ15N isotope values of spms from other regions.
Further work could help identify if such isotopic peculiarities (lowest δ66Zn, highest δ15N of the food-web) are due to a Hn metabolic and/or dietary specificity.
... Our results demonstrate: the Gabasa Hn shows a Zn isotope signature of a top-level carnivore cf N-isotopes for other Hn sites.
C & O isotope & trace element data suggest: the Hn inhabited the local area around the cave.
Of all the animal taxa analyzed in Gabasa, the Hn spm easily exhibits lowest Zn isotope ratio."

:-DDD
"supercarnivores"
The idiots:
Hn N isotopes are *more carnivorous* than those of felids!
But this is impossible, of course: you can't be more carnivorous than cats!

Hn isotopes are also simply intermediate between freshwater & coastal piscivores!
IOW, not meat, but fish & shellfish!!

Did Hn hunt??
Rarely if ever:
- Poor olfaction: even scavenging ??
- Cattails, waterlily, shellfish, salmon...
- Heavy & broad build: slow!
- Very big projecting nose: vulnerable!
- Brain large++: very frequent in aquatic mammals: DHA…?
- Lungs large++: typical of littoral animals.
- pachy-osteo-sclerosis He>Hn>Hs: thick, dense (& probably brittle) bones: only seen in slow+shallow divers.
- AFAWK, all archaic sites had large bodies of water + shellfish (e.g. Munro 2010).
- All “butchery” sites were waterside: bones & stones leave more archeological traces > plants, wood, fish …
- Mojokerto child (Java ?1.8 Ma) was found with shellfish & barnacles = river-delta.
- Paleolithic whale butchering (Angola ?>1 Ma) at Dungo V, Baia Farta, Benguela.
- Shell engravings Eugène Dubois collection (Joordens cs 2015)
- Ear exostoses = cold water irrigation. Etc.Etc.

IOW, only *incredible* idiots believe their Pleistocene ancestors ran after antelopes over African plains.

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[email protected] wrote:

Hn N isotopes are *more carnivorous* than those of felids!
But this is impossible, of course: you can't be more carnivorous than cats!

You can if you eat cats. And wolves. And other carnivores.. including cannibalism.



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https://jtem.tumblr.com/post/698577848100896768

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Op donderdag 20 oktober 2022 om 22:33:50 UTC+2 schreef JTEM is so reasonable:

Hn N isotopes are *more carnivorous* than those of felids!
But this is impossible, of course: you can't be more carnivorous than cats!

You can if you eat cats. And wolves. And other carnivores.. including cannibalism.

You don't understand:
Hn N isotopes indicate 150% of their diet must have been meat!
This is impossible, of course: you can't be more carnivorous than cats!

But Hn N-isotopes were not only super-carnivorous (impossible), but also simply intermediate between freshwater & marine foods.
They didn't even consider this because they *knew* that Hn lived on land...!!

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[email protected] wrote:

You don't understand:
Hn N isotopes indicate 150% of their diet must have been meat!
This is impossible, of course: you can't be more carnivorous than cats!

Cats don't collect their isotopes via mail order. They get them from eating prey. And humans get them from their prey -- deer and such. But if you
eat a cat you're eating all the isotopes they absorbed. So if they ate six
deer over their lifetime, by eating that one cat you're absorbing six deer worth of isotopes.

I'm over simplifying but the mechanics are true.

You eat a deer, the cat eats a deer: You test the same. Because these
isotopes came from the deer.

Eat a cat an you're getting all the isotopes they accumulated during their life.

So it's VERY easy for humans to test as more carnivorous than cats.




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https://jtem.tumblr.com/post/699248041563127808

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Op donderdag 27 oktober 2022 om 12:13:17 UTC+2 schreef JTEM is so reasonable:

You don't understand:
Hn N isotopes indicate 150% of their diet must have been meat!
This is impossible, of course: you can't be more carnivorous than cats!

Cats don't collect their isotopes via mail order. They get them from eating prey. And humans get them from their prey -- deer and such. ...

Are you really that stupid, my little boy??
150 % meat... :-DDD
Incredible fools.
Only if you don't want to compare with pisci- & molluscivores, you get such idiotic interpretations.

Grow up, my boy:
Pleistocene Homo
-used stone tools cf sea-otters
-evolved very large brains: DHA etc.
-cononized overseas islands,
-has isotopes like mollusci-piscivores.

Only incredible idiots believe that ancestors ran over the sea to Flores.

Simply google
"coastal dispersal Pleistocene Homo".

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[email protected] wrote:

Are you really that stupid, my little boy??
150 % meat... :-DDD

They are NOT testing meat. They are NOT even testing for meat. They
are testing for isotopes, and these isotopes are acquired through their
diet. The assumption is if cats eat prey animals and humans eat prey
animals, then they should test roughly the same. But humans ate the
predators and not just the prey. Humans even ate each other.

"Cannibalism."

So if a cat eats three deer it has the isotopes from three deer. If a
human eats two deer and a car, it's getting the isotopes from FIVE
deer.

Yes, the test are going to show humans as more carnivores because
the humans are going to have more isotopes, and they're assuming that
more isotopes equates to more carnivorous.

But it doesn't.

It just means that humans ate prey animals AND predators.

But, again, they never tested meat or even tested for meat. They were
testing for isotopes.




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https://jtem.tumblr.com/post/699248041563127808

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Op donderdag 27 oktober 2022 om 13:13:16 UTC+2 schreef JTEM is so reasonable:

Sorry, JTEM, my previous message was meant for our savanna boy:

[email protected] wrote:

Are you really that stupid, my little boy??
150 % meat... :-DDD

They are NOT testing meat. They are NOT even testing for meat. They
are testing for isotopes, and these isotopes are acquired through their
diet. The assumption is if cats eat prey animals and humans eat prey
animals, then they should test roughly the same. But humans ate the
predators and not just the prey. Humans even ate each other.
"Cannibalism."
So if a cat eats 3 deer it has the isotopes from 3 deer. If a
human eats 2 deer and a car, it's getting the isotopes from FIVE
deer.
Yes, the test are going to show humans as more carnivores because
the humans are going to have more isotopes, and they're assuming that
more isotopes equates to more carnivorous.
But it doesn't.
It just means that humans ate prey animals AND predators.
But, again, they never tested meat or even tested for meat. They were
testing for isotopes.

Yes, neandertal C & N isotopes (& Zn isotopes??) were not only super-carnivorous (impossible IMO) but also simply intermediate between marine & freshwater mammals, google "coastal dispersal Pleistocene Homo".

H.neand. ear exostoses & pachyosteosclerosis leave 0 doubt: Hn frequently dived.
did they seasonally follow the river (Meuse, Rhine...) to the sea?

DNA comparisons suggest our ancestors evolved the enzymes to make poly-unsaturated fatty acids from short PUFAs c 80 ka:
IOW, before that time, they still got an essential part of their diet (e.g. brain size!) from aquatic foods
(perhaps that's why Hs has somewhat smaller brains than Hn?).

In any case, only incredible imbeciles believe their Pleistocene ancestors ran after antelopes. :-D

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On Thursday, October 27, 2022 at 7:45:02 AM UTC-4, [email protected] wrote:

Op donderdag 27 oktober 2022 om 13:13:16 UTC+2 schreef JTEM is so reasonable:

Sorry, JTEM, my previous message was meant for our savanna boy:

[email protected] wrote:

Are you really that stupid, my little boy??
150 % meat... :-DDD

They are NOT testing meat. They are NOT even testing for meat. They
are testing for isotopes, and these isotopes are acquired through their diet. The assumption is if cats eat prey animals and humans eat prey animals, then they should test roughly the same. But humans ate the predators and not just the prey. Humans even ate each other.
"Cannibalism."
So if a cat eats 3 deer it has the isotopes from 3 deer. If a
human eats 2 deer and a car, it's getting the isotopes from FIVE
deer.
Yes, the test are going to show humans as more carnivores because
the humans are going to have more isotopes, and they're assuming that
more isotopes equates to more carnivorous.
But it doesn't.
It just means that humans ate prey animals AND predators.
But, again, they never tested meat or even tested for meat. They were testing for isotopes.

Yes, neandertal C & N isotopes (& Zn isotopes??) were not only super-carnivorous (impossible IMO) but also simply intermediate between marine & freshwater mammals, google "coastal dispersal Pleistocene Homo".

H.neand. ear exostoses & pachyosteosclerosis leave 0 doubt: Hn frequently dived.
did they seasonally follow the river (Meuse, Rhine...) to the sea?

DNA comparisons suggest our ancestors evolved the enzymes to make poly-unsaturated fatty acids from short PUFAs c 80 ka:
IOW, before that time, they still got an essential part of their diet (e.g. brain size!) from aquatic foods
(perhaps that's why Hs has somewhat smaller brains than Hn?).

In any case, only incredible imbeciles believe their Pleistocene ancestors ran after antelopes. :-D

Jermy tries to inform MV. :~D
MV adheres to his orthodox holy paradigm, no matter how many facts you throw at him, they just bounce off his bald occiput.
Let him ride his seahorse and sleep in his clamshell and dream of chasing kudus.

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Somebody:

Jermy tries to inform MV. :~D
MV adheres to his orthodox holy paradigm, no matter how many facts you throw at him, they just bounce off his bald occiput.
Let him ride his seahorse and sleep in his clamshell and dream of chasing kudus.

???

This was an "answer" to

Pleistocene Homo
-used stone tools cf sea-otters
-evolved very large brains: DHA etc.
-cononized overseas islands,
-has isotopes like mollusci-piscivores.
Only incredible idiots believe that their ancestors ran over the sea to Flores.

Google "coastal dispersal Pleistocene Homo".

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