Isotopic signatures and hereditary traits: snapshot of a Neolithic community in Germany.

Isotopic signatures and hereditary traits: snapshot of a Neolithic community in Germany. Introduction The site of Talheim (c. 4900-4800 BC), a late Linearbandkeramik(LBK LBK Lubbock (Texas)LBK Linearbandkeramik (European Archaeological Culture)LBK Landing Barge, Kitchen (US Navy)LBK Lutherske BekjennelseskirkeLBK Location-Based Key ) community in the Neckar valley of Germany, yields a truly uniquepicture of Neolithic life because, unlike most cemeteries, Talheim veryprobably represents a group of people who lived al the same time andwere then killed in a single event (Wahl 1985; Wahl & Konig 1987;Wild el al. 2004; Price el al. 2008). Talheim is located about 10km south of Heilbronn and about 30km NNE NNEabbr.north-northeastNoun 1. NNE - the compass point that is midway between north and northeastnor'-nor'-east, north northeast of the LBK site of Vaihingen (Figure 1; Price el al. 2008; Krause 2000).The remains of 34 individuals recovered there include 18 adults and 16children, all buried in a single pit 3m long (Wahl & Konig 1987;Figure 2). Radiocarbon dates of the bones are consistent with allindividuals having lived around 4900-4800 BC (Alt et al. 1997; Wild etal. 2004). The individuals were almost certainly killed in a singleattack--most of the skulls show violent injuries and 20 were killed byblows to the head or arrow-wounds from behind as if the victims hadtried to flee (Wahl & Konig 1987). The 18 adults include nine males,seven females and two of undetermined sex (Wahl & Konig 1987; Alt etal. 1995). [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] From a previous independent analysis by Alt et al. (1995) ofnon-metric, odontological characteristics of the teeth (belonging to theso-called epigenetic epigenetic/epi��ge��net��ic/ (-je-net��ik)1. pertaining to epigenesis.2. altering the activity of genes without changing their structure. variants, or 'discreta'), it appears thatTalheim was a homogeneous and isolated population. Figure 3 shows theway in which Alt et al. (1995: Figure 2) summarised their major results,showing which Talheim individuals possess relatively rare heritable her��i��ta��bleadj.1. Capable of being passed from one generation to the next; hereditary.2. Capable of inheriting or taking by inheritance. traits, numbered 164, 333, 554 and 673. The lines in Figure 3 connectindividuals of particular similarity (which may include similaritiesinvolving traits other than these four). In the centre, there are threeindividuals (84-2, 84-23 and 83-15A) that Alt et al. (1995: 214-15)suggest could be a father and his two children. On the left, sharingtraits 554 and 673, are two adult males (83-7 and 83-18B) who might bebrothers (Alt et al. 1995: 214; and see below). One of these'brothers' (83-18B) is connected by a line to ah adult woman(83-20A) who lacks 554 and 673, because they were particularly similaramong other traits (Alt et al. 1995: 214). In our discussion below, wecompare our isotope results with these interpreted genetic relationshipspublished a decade ago by Alt et al. (1995; also Alt et al. 1997 forversion in French). By comparing our isotope results with the skeletalmorphology, we find that diet, geographic mobility and geneticrelatedness were all correlated within this community. [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] Methods Strontium strontium(strŏn`shēəm)[from Strontian, a Scottish town], a metallic chemical element; symbol Sr; at. no. 38; at. wt. 87.62; m.p. 769°C;; b.p. 1,384°C;; sp. gr. 2.6 at 20°C;; valence +2. , carbon and oxygen isotopes were analysed in the toothenamel of the Talheim individuals, in order to characterise thevariation in their geographic origins and possibly variation in diets.Samples were selected from all skeletons for which a tooth wasavailable, including 22 human individuals. Samples of themandible/maxilla were taken from seven of those individuals. Strontium isotopes ([sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr) in archaeological toothenamel serve as a geographic 'signature' from anindividual's childhood, when the enamel was forming (e.g. Price etal. 2002; Bentley 2006). For this region of southern Germany, our'map' of the biologically-available strontium isotopesignatures (Price et al. 1998; 2001; 2003; 2008; Bentley et al. 2003;Bentley & Knipper 2005a) shows generally that the lowlands ofsouthern Baden-Wurttemberg, including the Neckar Valley, arecharacterised by [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr ratios between about 0.708 and0.710, whereas the nearest crystalline mountains, including the Vosges,Black Forest and parts of the Odenwald, exhibit [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Srabove 0.711. As Bentley and Knipper (2005a: Figure 3a) found, enamelfrom lowland pigs have [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr between 0.708 and 0.710,and pigs from the uplands have ratios above 0.710, with one of twoexceptions suspected to be from traded pigs. Determined largely by temperature, the mean annual oxygen isotopecomposition ([[delta].sup.18]O relative to Standard Mean Ocean Water[SMOW SMOW Standard Mean Ocean WaterSMOW St. Mary Of The Woods (Chicago, Illinois)]) in precipitation depends on latitude and altitude (Bowen &Wilkinson 2002), but also on topographic relief, distance from largebodies of water, and relative humidity relative humidityn.The ratio of the amount of water vapor in the air at a specific temperature to the maximum amount that the air could hold at that temperature, expressed as a percentage. . Geographic origins are reflectedby enamel [[delta].sup.18]O values, since mammals took in much of theiroxygen through ingested water (e.g. D'Angela & Longinelli 1990;Kohn 1996; Balasse et al. 2002). Due to averaging, however, seasonal8180 variations within the tooth enamel of mammals (those withcontinuous dental growth) are less than in the precipitation, of theorder of about 5 [per thousand] or less in cows from South Africa South Africa,Afrikaans Suid-Afrika, officially Republic of South Africa, republic (2005 est. pop. 44,344,000), 471,442 sq mi (1,221,037 sq km), S Africa. , forexample (Balasse et al. 2002). In humans from settled communities, whosewater supply is more consistent, the variations ate even smaller, withtooth enamel [[delta].sup.18]O varying about 1[per thousand] amongprehistoric people from one place (Budd et al. 2004). [FIGURE 3 OMITTED] In southern Germany, the 1991 average of [[delta].sup.18]O inprecipitation varied geographically from -8.2[per thousand] to -11.2[perthousand], becoming more negative moving eastwards away from theAtlantic Ocean Atlantic Ocean[Lat.,=of Atlas], second largest ocean (c.31,800,000 sq mi/82,362,000 sq km; c.36,000,000 sq mi/93,240,000 sq km with marginal seas).Physical GeographyExtent and Seas , and southwards with increasing altitude towards the Alps(Tutken et al. 2004). This geographic gradient was probably broadlysimilar during the Neolithic, even if perhaps 2-3 more negative overall(Mayer & Schwark 1999: Figure 4). From their regional sampling ofprehistoric pig enamel, Bentley and Knipper (2005a) found that[[delta].sup.18]O in Iron Age pigs was moderately well correlated withvalues from contour map values for [[delta].sup.18]O in modernprecipitation. Interestingly, this correlation was not present for theNeolithic pigs (Bentley & Knipper 2005a), which could reflect morevaried water sources for Neolithic livestock; resolving this questionmay require future studies of palaeogroundwaters (Edmunds & Tyler2002). Within the set of [C.sub.3] plants ([C.sub.4] plants ate notrelevant to this study), carbon isotope signatures ([delta][sup.13]C,relative to the Pee Dee Pee Deeor Great Pee Dee,river, c.435 mi (700 km) long, rising in the Blue Ridge, W N.C., and flowing NE then SE to Winyah Bay, S.C. It is called the Yadkin until it is joined by the Uharie River W of Troy, N.C. Belemite [PDB] carbonate standard) correlatepositively with temperature and sunshine, and negatively with humidityand precipitation (e.g. Heaton 1999). For humans, [delta][sup.13]Cvalues in tooth enamel carbonate reflect an average of the whole diet,offset by--9.4[per thousand] such that a pure [C.sup.3] vegetarian wouldhave a [delta][sup.13]C value of about--13[per thousand] in enamel(Ambrose & Norr 1993). Assuming that the Talheim individuals livedcontemporaneously con��tem��po��ra��ne��ous?adj.Originating, existing, or happening during the same period of time: the contemporaneous reigns of two monarchs.See Synonyms at contemporary. in a single community, experiencing similar levels oftemperature, humidity, and insolation, other possible causes of[delta][sup.13]C variations include meat consumption (e.g. DeNiro &Epstein 1978), altitude (e.g. Korner et al. 1991), and forest density(e.g. Heaton 1999). With so many possible causes, small variations in[delta][sup.13]C can be difficult to explain, but nonetheless clearpatterns can be observed. Among medieval pig teeth from southernGermany, [delta][sup.13]C was generally greater (p < 0.01) in uplandpigs than in lowland pigs by about 1[per thousand] (Bentley &Knipper 2005a: Figure 3a), which might be an effect of altitude and/orlack of forest canopy in the medieval uplands. Procedures For strontium isotope analysis Isotope analysis is the identification of isotopic signature, the distribution of certain stable isotopes and chemical elements within chemical compounds. This can be applied to a food web to make it possible to draw direct inferences regarding diet, trophic level, and subsistence. , each enamel sample (5-20mg) wasdissolved in 5 M HN[O.sup.3], and then purified by extractionchromatography using Eicrom[R] Sr-spec resin (e.g. Bentley et al. 2003for details). We then analysed [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr by thermalionisation Noun 1. ionisation - the condition of being dissociated into ions (as by heat or radiation or chemical reaction or electrical discharge); "the ionization of a gas"ionization mass spectrometry mass spectrometryor mass spectroscopyAnalytic technique by which chemical substances are identified by sorting gaseous ions by mass using electric and magnetic fields. (TIMS TIMS Thermal Ionization Mass SpectrometryTIMS The Institute of Management SciencesTIMS Thermal Infrared Multispectral ScannerTIMS Transportation Information Management SystemTIMS The International Molinological SocietyTIMS Tuberculosis Information Management System ) at Cornell University Cornell University,mainly at Ithaca, N.Y.; with land-grant, state, and private support; coeducational; chartered 1865, opened 1868. It was named for Ezra Cornell, who donated $500,000 and a tract of land. With the help of state senator Andrew D. and theNational Oceanography Centre, Southampton (see Table 1). We thenmeasured [[delta].sup.18]O and [delta][sup.13]C in the carbonate(C[O.sub.3]) component of the tooth enamel, following a tested procedure(Koch et al. 1997; Balasse et al. 2002), in which about 5mg of toothenamel was mechanically cleaned of all dentine dentine,n See dentin.dentineone of the hard tissues of the teeth which constitutes most of its bulk. Lies between the pulp cavity and the enamel, and where it is not covered by enamel is covered by cementum, the third hard substance , powdered and soakedovernight in 5 per cent acetic acid acetic acid(əsē`tĭk), CH3CO2H, colorless liquid that has a characteristic pungent odor, boils at 118°C;, and is miscible with water in all proportions; it is a weak organic carboxylic acid (see carboxyl group). to remove post-burial carbonatecontamination, then analysed via a Kiel III automated cryogenicdistillation system interfaced with a ThermoFinnigan Mat 253 gas-sourcemass spectrometer spectrometerDevice for detecting and analyzing wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, commonly used for molecular spectroscopy; more broadly, any of various instruments in which an emission (as of electromagnetic radiation or particles) is spread out according to some at the Bloomsbury Environmental Isotope Facility(BEIF), University College London “UCL” redirects here. For other uses, see UCL (disambiguation).University College London, commonly known as UCL, is the oldest multi-faculty constituent college of the University of London, one of the two original founding colleges, and the first British (cf. Bentley & Knipper 2005a).Repeated analyses of the NBS (National Bureau of Standards) See NIST. NBS - National Bureau of Standards: part of the US Department of Commerce, now NIST. 19 standard yielded a precision better than0.1[per thousand], (1 s.d.) for [[delta].sup.18]O and 0.05[per thousand]for [[delta].sup.18]O. Results Our results are shown in Tables 1 and 2. With no local animalsamong the archaeological remains, we do not attempt to define a strict'local' [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr range for Talheim. Nonetheless,we get a good sense of the local range for this community from the clearclustering ofvalues (cf. Price et al. 2008). Firstly, the seven humanbone samples from Talheim (Table 2) have a mean [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr of0.70906 [+ or -] 0.00005, which yields a [+ or -] 2 s.d. range of0.70895 0.70916. Secondly, the tire sampled children's teeth(useful if the Talheim children were locally raised) have a mean of0.70910 [+ or -] 0.00005, yielding a [+ or -]2 s.d. range of 0.70899 -0.70921. By taking the combined extent of these two ranges, weconservatively estimate the local [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr range to be0.70895-0.70921. This range is shown in Figure 4, which also shows theranges derived from archaeological pig teeth at Vaihingen(0.70913-0.70979) and Ilsfeld (0.70947-0.71005), two nearby sites(Bentley et al. 2004; Bentley & Knipper 2005a). Notably, the Talheimrange is considerably tighter than either of these other ranges, whichadds further support to the Talheim sample consisting of contemporariesfrom a single community. [FIGURE 4 OMITTED] Even allowing that our estimate of the local range is approximate,several [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr values are obviously well above it (Figure4). Suggesting an upland component to the diet during childhood, thesehigher [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr values are not local to the Talheimcommunity. We call this Group 3, which includes two females (83-10B,83-20A) and two males (83-7 and 83-18B). The two males in Group 3 ate infact the above-mentioned 'brothers' identified by Alt et al.(1995). Although the two males do not share any special geneticsimilarity with the Group 3 females, all four members of Group 3 wereclose to 30 years old (Figure 4). One of the two Group 3 women (83-20A)has by far the highest [[delta].sup.18]O (27.21) of the Talheim samples. Among the rest, who have signatures within or very near the localrange, we can identify two clear groups by plotting[sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr vs. 8180 (Figure 5a), such that 12 individuals inwhat we call 'Group 1' have a mean [[delta].sup.18]O of 26.10[+ or -] 0.14, and the five individuals of 'Group 2' have amean of 25.42 [+ or -] 0.14. As Figure 5a shows, Groups 1 and 2 atequite distinct (Table 3), with the [[delta].sup.18]O gap between themabout as large as the variation within each group. Adding the carbon isotope data, we also plot [[delta].sup.18]O vs.[delta][sup.13]C (Figure %) and [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr vs.[delta][sup.13]C (Figure 5c), while retaining the same group symbolsused in Figure 5a. In Figure % the data fall into two arrays: ahorizontal array with relatively uniform [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr, and adiagonal array in which [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr correlates linearly with[delta][sup.13]C ([r.sup.2] = 0.89 for 10 data points). Group 3 fallsexclusively within the diagonal array, and Groups 1 and 2 fall withinthe horizontal array, including where it overlaps with the lower part ofthe diagonal array. [FIGURE 5 OMITTED] In Figure 6, we again plot [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr vs.[delta][sup.13]C as in Figure 5c, but this time using the data symbolsto represent the genetic traits from Figure 3. The result is striking:all six of the individuals possessing genetic trait 164 and/or 333 plotalong the horizontal array, and the three with trait 554 plot along thediagonal array. Taking the diagonal array to contain 10 points and thehorizontal array to contain 10 points, the binomial distribution binomial distributionn.The frequency distribution of the probability of a specified number of successes in an arbitrary number of repeated independent Bernoulli trials. Also called Bernoulli distribution. probability p that these patterns occurred randomly is significantlysmall for trait 554 occurring with the diagonal array (p < 0.05), aswell as traits 164 and/or 333 occurring with the horizontal array (p< 0.02) and not with the diagonal array (p < 0.03). With onlythree instances of trait 554, its absence from the horizontal arraycould still be due to chance (p = 0.20). The fourth trait, 673, does notshow a pattern on Figure 6. However, the four males for which 673 occursexhibit a range of [[delta].sup.18]O values (25.99 [+ or -] 0.11) thatis narrow enough to be significantly associated with the trait (p <0.05). Finally, among the six remaining individuals without any of thesefour traits, five occur within the diagonal array (Figure 6). [FIGURE 6 OMITTED] Discussion Three groups were defined from strontium and oxygen isotopes(Figure 5a, Table 3). Group 1 contains no adult females: only males,young children, and an 11-year-old girl. Since we did not analyseisotopes in all the Talheim females (some tooth samples not available),it is always possible that one or more of the females not sampled couldbelong to Group 1. However, none of the four adult females that we didanalyse (84-4, 83-20a, 83-10b and 83-22D) fell within Group 1, and giventhat 10 out of 15 (67 per cent) of the other samples were in Group 1,the probability that all four adult females would rail outside Group 1,by chance alone, is less than 2 per cent. In any case, this result is atleast consistent with the women from this group having been extractedduring the attack (e.g. Wild et al. 2004). Since adult women are presentin Group 2 and Group 3, it appears that the women of Group 1 wereselectively removed, and given the circumstances, presumably pre��sum��a��ble?adj.That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. captured.It would seem that Group 1 represents the local Talheim community, sinceit contains all the young children we analysed. These would presentaninteresting question: why were the women of Groups 2 and 3 killed, whilethe women of Group 1 were abducted? Group 2 is equally interesting, but for a different reason. Thefive members of Group 2--a man in his 20s, a woman ofabout 20, a boy anda girl both about 11 years old, and a mature woman of about 50--have apattern of genetic relatedness that suggests they were a single family.Of the three individuals at the centre of Figure 3, Group 2 contains the'father' (84-2) and the 11-year-old 'daughter'(83-15A) mentioned above as identified by Alt et al. (1995), but not the'son' (84-23), who fell into Group 1 and yielded the highest[delta][sup.13]C (-11.83) of the entire Talheim sample. However, the11-year-old boy (83-15B) in our Group 2 seems just as likely to be theson, as he shares traits 164 and 333 with the potential father, and infact Alt et al. (1995) had linked them both by a line of geneticsimilarity (Figure 3). As one would expect for the potential mother(84-4, upper left in Figure 3), she has relatively little geneticsimilarity with the 'father', which would mean that the'children' inherited traits 164 and 333 paternally. The'grandmother' (83-22D) would be on the mother's side,since she too lacks traits 164 and 333, and her [delta][sup.13]C valueis identical to hers (-13.8). Although this interpretation isconjectural con��jec��tur��al?adj.1. Based on or involving conjecture. See Synonyms at supposed.2. Tending to conjecture.con��jec , it should be no surprise to discover an immediate familywithin a single community, and the particular Group 2 membership of aman, a woman, two similarly aged children, and a woman of the previousgeneration seems unlikely to be a chance combination. Furthermore, are-examination of the skeletal morphology by Joachim Wahl found nostriking differences among the Group 2 individuals, consistent withtheir being close family members. From strontium isotopes, it would appear that the females in Group3 (83-10B, 20A), one of the males (83-18B) and less certainly the other(83-7), had grown up in a locality distant from the childhood home ofthe rest of the massacred community. The men were determined as being ofclose kindred by Alt et al. (1995), possibly even brothers. They bothrail within the diagonal array in Figure 5c, and their [[delta].sup.18]Ovalues (25.98 and 25.91) are nearly identical. However, because their[sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr values (0.70941 vs. 0.71067) are quite differentfrom each other, they probably did not grow up in exactly the samelocality. One possible explanation is that they were not brothers butfather and son (given their difference in age at death), who grew up indifferent villages, of whose different [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr valuesreflect the different places and times of enamel formation as they movedacross a territorial range, perhaps as livestock herders. The diagonal array containing Group 3 (Figure 5c) suggests a singlegroup within the community which falls along a mixing line (cf. Bentley2006; Montgomery et al. 2007; Phillips & Koch 2002), with oneend-member in the regional uplands, with higher [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Srand less-negative [delta][sup.13]C values (Bentley & Knipper 2005a).Constructing a proper mixing model is daunting daunt?tr.v. daunt��ed, daunt��ing, dauntsTo abate the courage of; discourage. See Synonyms at dismay.[Middle English daunten, from Old French danter, from Latin however, because it wouldhave to include upland vs. lowland meat, plants and milk- at least sixdifferent categories of food resources, each with its own Srconcentration, [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr and [delta][sup.13]C value--and themyriad possible concentrations of those resources. Nevertheless, following Montgomery et al. (2007), we can considermore simply that a transhumant group had two diets--possibly a summerdiet from the uplands, and a winter diet in the lowlands. Both diets mayhave been quite similar and quite rich in animal protein, in referenceto the carbon and nitrogen isotope results from Herxheim (LBK, southernGermany) by Durrwachter et al. (2006), who found 'surprisinglylittle variation' in human diet. Analyses of archaeological pigtooth enamel (Bentley & Knipper 2005a) reasonably indicate anend-member for the lowland/winter diet would be about[sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr = 0.70910 and [delta][sup.13]C = -13.8[perthousand] (lower left of Figure 5c), whereas an upland/summer end-membercould be about [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr = 0.712 and [delta][sup.13]C =-12.5[per thousand] (towards the upper right). Hence the diagonal arrayin Figure 5c may represent a group that practiced transhumance, withdifferent proportions of upland/lowland resources accounting for theirspread along the array. We present supporting lines of evidence fortranshumance below. Figure 6 shows that certain non-metric traits are restricted tocertain isotopically-delineated groups. This implies a correlationbetween diet, geographic origin and genetic relatedness. One possibleexplanation for this is that Talheim was differentiated by hereditarysubsistence occupations (cf. Bogucki 1988)--perhaps specialisedcultivators (horizontal array) and stockherders (diagonal array,including Group 3)? At nearby Vaihingen, there were significantly more'non-local' strontium isotope signatures among people buriedin the ditch surrounding the settlement than people buried within thesettlement (Bentley et al. 2003). Although the non-locals may have beenimmigrants from other villages, they might also have acquired theirnon-local signatures through herding livestock, as the Neolithic cattle,sheep and goats from Vaihingen also show a range of[sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr values (Bentley et al. 2004). In fact,transhumance at Vaihingen was recently confirmed by analysing cow enamelsamples at regular intervals along the tooth, yielding a continuous[sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr record for the first two years of the cow'slife. The results (Bentley & Knipper 2005b) from three Vaihingencows show that one was clearly taken into the uplands during the summerto pasture, while the other two were taken to different places duringthe summer. Hence it could be that cultivators and pastoralists in theLBK shared the same communities yet maintained social, hereditary andpossibly even 'ethnic' distinctions between their groups. Conclusions We analysed strontium, oxygen and carbon isotopes in human toothenamel samples from 23 Talheim individuals. Firstly, when we plot[[delta].sup.18]O vs. [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr (Figure 5a), the data formthree groups, one (Group 3) with [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr values fromupland sources, and the others (Groups 1 and 2) with similar, lowland[sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr values but distinct in their 8180 values.Secondly, when we plot [delta][sup.13]C vs. [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr(Figure 5c), we find two arrays of data points, of which the diagonalarray is suggestive of suggestive ofDecision making adjective Referring to a pattern by LM or imaging, that the interpreter associates with a particular–usually malignant lesion. See Aunt Millie approach, Defensive medicine. increasing proportions of upland sources to thediet, potentially due to herding livestock in the uplands. When compared to the previous results of skeletal morphologicalanalysis For other senses of this word see morphology.Morphological analysis or General Morphological Analysis is a method developed by Fritz Zwicky (1967, 1969) for exploring all the possible solutions to a multi-dimensional, non-quantified problem complex. by Alt et al. (1995), the isotope analyses reveal threepatterns: (1) Group 2 (Figure 5a) consists of an adult male, a boy and a girlall inferred by Alt et al. (1995) to be closely relate& as well asan adult female and an much older female who ate not closely related tothem. Given the isotope clustering, the relatedness between the man andthe children, and the suggestive combination of members, we suggest thatGroup 2 was a nuclear family. (2) Group 1 (Figure 5a) has no adult women, yet it contains fouradult men, one 11-year-old girl, two boys aged 6-8, and all five of thesampled young children. The presence of young children (absent in Groups2 and 3) suggests Group 1 was the local community. The lack of adultfemales (present in Groups 2 and 3) suggests the women of Group 1 werespared, and apparently abducted, by those who killed the others. (3) The four members of Group 3, all adults, appear to begenetically related. Falling along a diagonal array in Figure 5c, threeof them show distinctive upland [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr ratios associatedwith their upbringing. A possible explanation is that specialisedcultivators represent the horizontal array and stockherders representthe diagonal array, with both specialisations being passed downhereditarily. Our evidence for the violent abduction of young females from Group1 rather dramatically supports Eisenhauer's (2003) case forpatrilocality pat��ri��lo��cal?adj. AnthropologyOf or relating to residence with a husband's kin group or clan.pat at Talheim, and also bolsters the isotopic (Bentley et al.2002) and genetic (Seielstad et al. 1998) evidence for patrilocality inNeolithic Europe Neolithic Europe is the time between the Mesolithic and Bronze Age periods in Europe, roughly from 7000 BC (the approximate time of the first farming societies in Greece) to ca. 1700 BC (the beginning of the Bronze Age in northwest Europe). in general. Anthropologically-speaking, this fitslogically with the evidence for transhumance in the LBK (Bogucki 1988;Kienlin & Valde-Nowak 2003; Bentley & Knipper 2005b) and thepossible nuclear family at Talheim. The nuclear family is most viablewithin patrilineal patrilineal/pa��tri��lin��e��al/ (pat?ri-lin��e-il) descended through the male line. pat��ri��lin��e��aladj.Relating to, based on, or tracing ancestral descent through the paternal line. kinship systems, whereby men seek to control theinheritance of their descendants (e.g. Fox 1983: 27-53). Transhumance isalso highly correlated with patrilocality (e.g. Holden & Mace 2003),in the sense that livestock and land ate valuable elements of propertythat men will seek to control (Holden et al. 2003). The fact that theseindependent lines of evidence are so consistent with each otherencourages us that they truly represent aspects of kinship and communityin Neolithic Europe. Acknowledgements For providing access to a clean lab and TIMS assistance for thestronrium isotope analyses, we thank Dr Rex Taylor, Dr Matthew Cooper For the Irish journalist, see Matt Cooper (Irish Journalist).Matthew Cooper (b. 1962) is a former reporter for Time who, along with New York Times and especially Tina Hayes of the National Oceanography Centre (NOC (Network Operations Center) A central or regional location for monitoring a large network. Also called a "network management center" (NMC), "service management center" (SMC) or "network control center" (NCC), a NOC may be used to manage a large enterprise network, ) inSouthampton, and Professor William White William White may refer to: PoliticsWilliam White (Secretary of State), North Carolina Secretary of State, 1798–1811 William White (Canadian politician), elected member of the first Council of the Northwest Territories, 1883–1885 William J. of the Corneli University EarthSciences Department. The Sr, C & O isotope measurements andanalysis, conducted by RAB Rab(räb), Ital. Arbe, island (1991 pop. 9,205), 40 sq mi (104 sq km) off Croatia, in the Adriatic Sea. One of the Dalmatian islands, it is a popular seaside resort. Fishing and agriculture are the main occupations. at UCL UCL University College LondonUCL Universit�� Catholique de LouvainUCL UEFA Champions LeagueUCL Upper Confidence LimitUCL University of Central LancashireUCL Upper Control LimitUCL Unfair Competition LawUCL Ulnar Collateral Ligament and NOC, were made possible by aresearch grant from the Leverhulme Trust The Leverhulme Trust is a research and educational charity based in London, England.Founded in 1925 after the death of the Victorian entrepreneur William Hesketh Lever to continue his philanthropic work, the Trust was originally endowed with a shareholding in Lever (F/07134/Z), excepting thosemeasurements made by RAB at Cornell in April 2000, which were funded bya NSF NSF - National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (#0073721). Received: 2 August 2006; Revised: 22 September 2006; Accepted: 18January 2007 References ALT, K.W., W. VACH &J. WAHL. 1995. 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Alexander Bentley, Department of Anthropology, DurhamUniversity, 43 Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HN, UK (Email:r.a.bentley@durham.ac.uk) Joachim Wahl, RP Stuttgart, Landesamt fur Denkmalpflege,Osteologie, Stromeyersdorfitrasse 3, D-78467, Konsmnz, Germany (Email:Joachim.Wahl@rps.bwl.de) T. Douglas Price, Department. of Anthropology, University ofWisconsin, 1180 Observatory Dr., Madison, WI 53706-1393, USA (Email:tdprice@wisc.edu) Tim C. Atkinson, Department of Earth Sciences, University CollegeLondon, Gower Street Gower Street may be referring to one of the following: Gower Street (London) Gower Street (Hollywood) , London WC1E 6BT, UK (Email: t.atkinson@ucl.ac.uk)Table 1. Isotope analyses of human tooth enamel samples from Talheim.All carbon and oxygen isotope measurements were made at BEIF, and theSr isotope measurements were done at the National Oceanography Centrein Southampton, except those indicated ([section]) that were done atKeck Isotope Geochemistry Lab, Cornell University. Measurement errors(1 s.e.) corresponding to the last digits of the value are shown inparentheses. [[delta]. [[delta]. Age sup.13]C sup.18]OIndividual # Sex (years) (PDB) (SMOW)83-3B Male 20-40 n.d n.d83-3C Child 8-10 -12.62 (1) 25.90 (3)83-6 Child ~2 -13.84 (1) 26.38 (3)83-7 Male 30-40 -13.48 (8) 25.98 (5)83-8 Male 50-60 -12.82 (9) 26.14 (7)83-1OB Female? 20-40 -13.19 (3) 25.47 (6)83-11 Male 20-30 -13.29 (7) 25.97 (8)83-12 Male 20-30 -13.72 (11) 26.22 (10)83-13 Boy 6-7 -13.69 (4) 26.03 (5)83-14B Child 2-4 -13.06 (2) 26.07 (4)83-15A Girl ~11 -12.84 (9) 25.46 (9)83-15B Boy? 10-12 -13.14 (8) 25.55 (7)83-18B Male? 20-40 -13.07 (2) 25.91 (1)83-20A Female 20-30 -13.53 (9) 27.21 (11)83-22C1 Male? 20-40 -12.91 (9) 25.94 (6)83-22D Female? 40-60 -13.79 (9) 25.32 (21)83-22J Child 4-6 -13.78 (3) 26.09 (3)84-2 Male 20-30 -13.41 (2) 25.22 (3)84-4 Female ~20 -13.84 (2) 25.53 (2)84-23 Boy? ~8 -11.83 (1) 26.15 (2)84-28 Girl ~11 -12.90 (6) 26.07 (8) Genetic Group charactersIndividual # [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr (Fig. 5a) (Alt etal. 1995)83-3B 0.70895 n.d.83-3C 0.70917 (2) ([section]) 183-6 0.70912 (1) 183-7 0.70941 (2) 3 554, 67383-8 0.70911 (1) 183-1OB 0.70993 (2) ([section]) 383-11 0.70904 (1) 1 33383-12 0.70906 (1) 183-13 0.70922 (1) 183-14B 0.70904 (1) 183-15A 0.70884 (1) 2 33383-15B 0.70876 (1) 2 333, 16483-18B 0.71067 (1) ([section]) 3 554, 67383-20A 0.70972 (1) 383-22C1 0.70894 (1) 1 67383-22D 0.70902 (1) 283-22J 0.70905 (1) 184-2 0.70909 (1) ([section]) 2 333, 16484-4 0.70913 (2) ([section]) 2 55484-23 0.70932 (1) 1 333, 164, 67384-28 0.70912 (1) 1 164Table 2. Strontium isotopes in human bone samples from Talheim.Grave # part [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr84-2 Mandible 0.7091483-22J Mandible 0.7090884-23 Mandible 0.7090683-6 Occipital 0.7090583-14B Mandible 0.7090584-4 Mandible 0.70899? Maxilla 0.70899Table 3. Characteristics of the three groups defined in the text andin Figure 5a, including mean isotope value of the group, and p valuesfor differences between group means (t-test, two-tailed, assuming equalvariances). [sup.87]Sr/[sup.86]Sr [sup.18]OGroup 1 (n = 11) 0.70911 [+ or -] 0.00010 26.09 [+ or -] 0.14Group 2 (n = 5) 0.70897 [+ or -] 0.00016 25.42 [+ or -] 0.14Group 3 (n = 4) 0.70993 [+ or -] 0.00054 26.14 [+ or -] 0.75t-tests (p values)1 vs. 2 0.051 0.000000322 vs. 3 0.0061 0.0671 vs. 3 0.00018 0.81 [sup.13]CGroup 1 (n = 11) -13.13 [+ or -] 0.22Group 2 (n = 5) -13.40 [+ or -] 0.78Group 3 (n = 4) -13.32 [+ or -] 0.22t-tests (p values)1 vs. 2 0.572 vs. 3 0.731 vs. 3 0.57