Being opportunistic animals, cats have adjusted to anthropogenic environments and enriched their food repertoire with meat from large terrestrial animals and fish. Although cats are skilled hunters, anthropogenic food comprises an important part of their diet when living in an urban centre, and, thus, their dietary reconstruction can provide information on regional food availabilities as well as their interactions with humans. With the aim to reconstruct the diet of cats from two medieval harbours in the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman (Siraf in Iran and Qalhât in Oman), we conducted carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratio analysis on 28 cats and more than 100 associated faunal samples. Tens of cat remains have been discovered at both sites, which have historical and archaeological evidence for a long tradition in seafaring and sea fishing. The isotopic results reveal a high marine protein-based diet for the cats from Qalhât and a mixed marine-terrestrial (C4) diet for the cats from Siraf. Cats at both sites were most likely scavenging on both human food scraps and refuse related to fishing activities, with differences in the two areas most likely associated with the local availability of marine resources. By shedding light on the dietary habits of cats from two medieval harbours in the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, our study illustrates the potential of stable isotope analysis in reconstructing human-cat interactions in the past. Keywords: carbon; nitrogen; cat; diet; Qalhât; Siraf.
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The seasonality of birth, a key parameter when addressing past domestic livestock management, can be investigated through serial stable oxygen isotope analysis in tooth enamel. The assessment of the season of births requires furthermore the availability of modern reference data set, existing for cattle, sheep, pigs or llamas. The ancient site of Sagalassos, in the Taurus Mountains (SW Turkey), has delivered a large assemblage of sheep and goat remains. The osteological analysis revealed a predominance of goat over sheep, with a ratio varying between 65 and 90% over time. Goats and sheep were kept at an old age for the production of milk, wool/hair, as well as for horn-working and hide exploitation. A stable oxygen isotope (δ18O) analysis focussing on mandibular M2s was undertaken to investigate goat and sheep livestock demographic management during the Early Byzantine period (450-680 CE). ZooMS was used to confirm specific attribution of selected specimens (ten goats, eight sheep). Ten modern hair goats collected in the late 1990s in the context of a research project on small ruminant herd management in the Eastern Mediterranean were also sampled to provide a modern comparative for the assessment of birth season. The modern goat δ18O sequences were modelled according to Balasse et al. (2012) and compared with the existing sheep reference data set. The comparison suggests a different timing in the isotope record between sheep and goats and argues for the use of species-specific comparative for the assessment of birth season in archaeological herds. The comparison of the modern and archaeological goat δ18O sequences indicate a quite restricted season of births in spring for the latter. On the contrary, sheep births were spread out over roughly six months, from late winter/early spring to early-/mid-summer. More modern goat comparatives are needed to enrich this dataset. Keywords: Stable oxygen isotope, tooth enamel, birth seasonality, goat, Sagalassos.
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