Prompt Cast
Understanding Ancient Diets Through Stable Isotope Analysis
TLDR Dr. Christina Cheung's research using stable isotope analysis reveals insights into the diets and lives of people in the past, including the discovery that sacrificial victims in Shang China were not locals but a specific group of enemies from the West. This research challenges traditional beliefs and provides a different perspective on ancient civilizations.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
Dr. Christina Cheung discusses her interest in stable isotope analysis and how it can provide insight into the diets and lives of people in the past.
04:28
Stable isotope analysis allows researchers to determine the contents of ancient diets and how they changed over time, as well as compare different groups of people and their specific dietary habits.
08:58
Dr. Christina Cheung has worked on a variety of different time periods and locations, utilizing stable isotope analysis to study ancient diets, including her recent study on a small data set from Hong Kong that revealed that Neolithic people in the area were extreme fish eaters, which was surprising given the assumption that they would rely more on terrestrial resources.
13:07
Dr. Christina Cheung performed analysis on sacrificial victims from Yinzhu, the last capital of the Shang dynasty, using carbon nitrogen and sulfur isotope analysis to determine their diet and mobility patterns, revealing that the sacrificial victims were not local and had different diets compared to the local residents.
18:17
Dr. Christina Cheung discovered that the sacrificial victims from Yinzhu had different isotopic values in their femur bones compared to other bones, indicating a change in diet during their lifetime and suggesting that they were brought from elsewhere and had a different diet than the local residents.
22:38
Dr. Christina Cheung's research on the sacrificial victims from Yinzhu indicates that they lived in the area for several years before being killed, had a different diet than the local residents, and were organized in a hierarchical society in both life and death.
27:03
Dr. Christina Cheung's research suggests that the sacrificial victims in Shang China were not locals, but rather a specific group of enemies from the West, possibly pastoralists, challenging the traditional belief that they were Chang people and providing a different perspective on the Shang civilization.
31:18
Dr. Christina Cheung suggests that the interpretation of the term "Chang" in the context of the Oracle bones may have been misinterpreted over the years, and that the sacrificial victims in Shang China were actually millet farmers from a closer area, challenging the traditional belief that they were war captives brought from far away.
35:54
Dr. Christina Cheung had to comb through previously published data from various sources, including dental and isotope studies, to conduct her research on the sudden shift in diet in China, and she had to rely on colleagues in China to help access some of the data due to its limited availability, but there are now open access archives, such as the Isoarch Initiative, that make it easier for researchers to deposit and access isotope data.
40:11
Dr. Christina Cheung discusses the collaborative nature of archaeology and the potential for future research using strontium isotope analysis on cremated remains.
Categories:
History
Society & Culture
