The environmental origins of plants and herbivores in the southern Levant: An isotopic approach

This dissertation examines the relationship between modern water availability (rainfall) and the carbon and nitrogen isotope composition (delta 13C and delta15N) of plants and herbivores (bovids) in the southern Levant. The primary goal is to lay the foundation for a model that can be used to identify the environment of origin of herbivores in the region for application to a variety of archaeological and paleoenvironmental questions. In addition, this research provides basic data on the isotopic signatures of plants and herbivores inhabiting the heterogeneous environments of the southern Levant.;The results of the modern plant study show that the isotopic composition of plant communities in the southern Levant is correlated with rainfall on an annual and seasonal basis. The isotopic variability of plants in hot and arid desert environments however, is heavily influenced by topographic differences that often affect water availability independently of rainfall. Isotopic spacing between the delta15N values of plants and herbivore body tissue is constant regardless of herbivore physiological adaptations to heat and water stress common to the southern Levant. This suggests that the environmental conditions that determine plants isotope composition can be indirectly detected in the body tissue composition of herbivores. The relationships between water availability and the isotopic composition of plants and animals established in the modern studies were synthesized into a model that aims to predict the environmental origins of herbivores from the region. The model maps the predicted geographic distribution of the delta13C and delta 15N values of animal bone collagen. The model still requires validation.;The model and the assumptions on which it is based were applied to two archaeological case studies. Preliminary results from the study of caprids from the city dump of Jerusalem indicate a specialized pilgrimage economy in the Early Roman Period. This interpretation is supported by the large scale importation of desert caprids to the city. In a second study, the relationships between modern plant and gazelle carbon isotope values were applied to the past to explain current inconsistencies in interpretations of the potential severity of the Younger Dryas event and its impact on human populations in the southern Levant.