Browsing by Author "Sealy, Judy"
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- ItemOpen AccessInvestigation of possible dietary differences between the inhabitants of the Robberg/Plettenberg Bay and Matjes River Rock Shelter in the later Stone Age : an isotopic approach(2001) Muller, Cecilene; Sealy, Judyδ¹⁵N and δ¹³C measurements were used to investigate whether dietary differences existed between Later Stone Age people buried at Robberg/Plettenberg Bay and Matjes River Rock Shelter. Since isotopic values of marine foods from this area had not previously been measured, the first step was to sample shellfish and Arctocephalus pusillus (Cape Fur seals), representing the lower and higher trophic level marine foods important in prehistoric diets along the coast.
- ItemOpen AccessStable isotope analysis of fauna and soils from sites in the Eastern Free State and Western Lesotho, Southern Africa : a palaeoenvironmental interpretation(1997) Smith, Jeannette; Sealy, Judy; Lee-Thorp, JuliaThis thesis examines the use of stable carbon isotopes as a means of reconstructing the palaeoenvironment of the Caledon River Valley of the eastern Free State, South Africa, and western Lesotho. In doing so, this work draws upon previous studies that have shown that the distinct distribution and δ¹³C values of C₃ and C₄ grasses are influenced by seasonality of rainfall and growth season temperatures. In general, C₃ grasses dominate in areas where conditions are cool/moist during the growth season, while C₄ grasses characterize those that are warm/arid. The isotopic composition of the grasses of an area, and thus climatic and environmental data, is passed along the trophic levels, through dietary intake by grazers, and decomposition into soil sediments. By measuring the ¹³C/¹²C ratios of carbon extracted from the calcified tissues of grazers and soil organic matter recovered from within an archaeological context, a palaeoenvironmental sequence has been reconstructed for the study area for the last 13 500 years. Results have shown that although C₄ grasses have dominated, the presence of C₃ grasses, at various times during this period, suggest that growth season temperatures fluctuated temporally and spatially.
- ItemOpen AccessWeaning patterns in the Latter Stone Age, as reconstructed through nitrogen isotope analyses of the skeletons from Matjes River Rock Shelter(2002) Clayton, Fiona H; Sealy, Judy