Thesis title: LIFE IN THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION: A MULTI-ISOTOPIC STUDY ON DIET AND MOBILITY IN ANCIENT SOUTHERN MESOPOTAMIA
Isotopic methods have become central to bioarchaeology, yet southern Mesopotamia has remained understudied due to both the scarce availability of analysable skeletal material, the overall preservation of the remains, and further the poor preservation of collagen, which limits the use of traditional techniques. This thesis addresses these challenges through an integrated isotopic investigation of human and faunal dental enamel from Abu Tbeirah, a medium-sized Sumerian city mainly dated to the second part of the third millennium BCE and located near the ancient city of Ur, in modern southern Iraq.
By applying a multi-proxy approach that combines zinc (δ66Zn), carbon (δ13C), and oxygen (δ18O) isotopes, and trace element ratios (Ba/Ca, Sr/Ca) for dietary reconstruction with strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and oxygen (δ18O) isotope ratios for mobility, this research provides direct and independent insights into diet, mobility, resource use and animal management.
The results demonstrate that the population followed an omnivorous diet centred on C3 cereals and a low contribution of meat, with limited freshwater resources and no evidence for marine fish consumption despite the site’s proximity to the coast and the archaeozoological record. Inter-individual variability does not appear to correlate with sex, age at death, or funerary ritual and/or mortuary practices. Zinc isotopes also show patterns compatible with breastfeeding and weaning practices. Animal herding also aligns with low-intensity household-level strategies, in line with a non-elite population.
Environmental and mobility analyses reveal exploitation of both marshland and steppe environments and identify non-local individuals, pointing to regional connections possibly involving Ur or other northern sites. Comparisons made possible through the newly developed DATAMESOP dataset situate Abu Tbeirah within a broader isotopic framework, highlighting overlaps with populations across Mesopotamia and Anatolia. In some cases, it was possible to highlight that differences in δ18O values could have been tentatively explained by paleoenvironmental change, notably increasing aridity and coastal regression during the late third millennium BCE.
Taken together, this study represents the first systematic multi-isotopic reconstruction of diet and mobility in southern Mesopotamia. Further, it represents the first application of zinc stable isotopes to ancient Mesopotamia and an early urban centre in general. Beyond Abu Tbeirah, it demonstrates the potential of zinc and enamel-based approaches to overcome long-standing preservation challenges and contributes to the foundations for a future isotopic isoscape of West Asia.