Miss Amy Styring BSc (Hons)
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Background
I graduated from the University of Exeter in 2007 with a BSc (Hons) in Archaeology and Chemistry. For my final year project, I analysed the contents of an Early Dynastic Egyptian pot in an attempt to ascertain whether it could have had a cosmetic use. I started my PhD in October 2007 under the supervision of Professor Richard Evershed and am funded by NERC.
Research
Human dietary change and the intensity of farming during the Neolithic is one of archaeology’s fundamental debates. Stable isotope ratios of nitrogen (δ15N values) provide a means of ascertaining human dietary change as δ15N values typically increase by ca. 3% from one trophic level to another. As a result, high δ15N values for human bones have been consistently interpreted as resulting from largely meat-based diets despite there being widespread evidence for crop cultivation at many of the sites. Previous studies have shown that manuring of crops can cause an increase in the d15N values of the plants and therefore this manuring effect could account for the high δ15N values seen in humans.
The aim of my PhD is to investigate more thoroughly the effect that manuring has upon the δ15N value of soil and the crops that are grown on it. It is then my intention to see how this signature is transferred up the food chain to animals and humans. In order to do this I will undertake compound specific analysis of the individual amino acids in cereal grains and bone by GC-C-IRMS. I will initially carry out these analyses on modern experimental samples and then expand my research to samples from archaeological sites situated across Europe and into the Near East.