Professor Darren Grocke's Outputs (28)

The effect of seaweed fertilisation on sulfur isotope ratios (δ³⁴S) and grain size in barley: Implications for agronomy and archaeological research (2024)
Journal Article
Blanz, M., Gröcke, D. R., Martin, P., & Church, M. J. (2024). The effect of seaweed fertilisation on sulfur isotope ratios (δ³⁴S) and grain size in barley: Implications for agronomy and archaeological research. Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, 3, Article 1465082. https://doi.org/10.3389/fearc.2024.1465082

Stable sulfur isotope ratios (δ³⁴S) in bone collagen are often employed to study the consumption of marine and freshwater fish, wetland grazing, marine foraging patterns, and the possible geographic origins of food sources. However, a recent small-sc... Read More about The effect of seaweed fertilisation on sulfur isotope ratios (δ³⁴S) and grain size in barley: Implications for agronomy and archaeological research.

Recommendations for stable isotope analysis of charred archaeological crop remains (2024)
Journal Article
Styring, A. K., Vaiglova, P., Bogaard, A., Church, M., Gröcke, D. R., Larsson, M., Liu, X., Stroud, E., Szpak, P., & Wallace, M. P. (2024). Recommendations for stable isotope analysis of charred archaeological crop remains. Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, 3, Article 1465082. https://doi.org/10.3389/fearc.2024.1470375

Stable isotope analysis of plant remains recovered from archaeological sites is becoming more routine. There remains a lack of consensus, however, on how to appropriately select archaeological plant remains for isotopic analysis, how to account for d... Read More about Recommendations for stable isotope analysis of charred archaeological crop remains.

Recommendations for stable isotope analysis of charred archaeological crop remains (2024)
Journal Article
Styring, A. K., Vaiglova, P., Bogaard, A., Church, M., Gröcke, D. R., Larsson, M., Liu, X., Stroud, E., Szpak, P., & Wallace, M. P. (in press). Recommendations for stable isotope analysis of charred archaeological crop remains. Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, 3, Article 1470375. https://doi.org/10.3389/fearc.2024.1470375

Stable isotope analysis of plant remains recovered from archaeological sites is becoming more routine. There remains a lack of consensus, however, on how to appropriately select archaeological plant remains for isotopic analysis, how to account for d... Read More about Recommendations for stable isotope analysis of charred archaeological crop remains.

Establishing the limitations on using archived marine mammal samples for stable isotope analysis: an examination of differing preservation methods on tissues of harbor porpoise ( Phocoena phocoena ) and gray seal ( Halichoerus grypus ) (2024)
Journal Article
Moore, D. M., Cunningham, E. G., Crowder, K. D., & Gröcke, D. R. (online). Establishing the limitations on using archived marine mammal samples for stable isotope analysis: an examination of differing preservation methods on tissues of harbor porpoise ( Phocoena phocoena ) and gray seal ( Halichoerus grypus ). Marine Mammal Science, Article e13168. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.13168

The use of biological samples from museum and/or archive collections is common in stable isotope research, particularly for marine mammals. Yet, the temporal stability of isotopic values across various tissue types and the influence of different pres... Read More about Establishing the limitations on using archived marine mammal samples for stable isotope analysis: an examination of differing preservation methods on tissues of harbor porpoise ( Phocoena phocoena ) and gray seal ( Halichoerus grypus ).

Further investigation into the impact of manuring on stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen isotope (δ15N) values in pulses: a four-year experiment examining Celtic bean (Vicia faba) (2024)
Journal Article
Treasure, E. R., Gröcke, D. R., Lester, J. J., Bishop, R. R., Jackson, S. E., & Church, M. J. (2024). Further investigation into the impact of manuring on stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen isotope (δ15N) values in pulses: a four-year experiment examining Celtic bean (Vicia faba). Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 16(8), Article 130. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-024-02045-x

Plant stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope values can be used to directly investigate crop husbandry practices such as manuring; a key variable in understanding the scale and intensity of past farming practices. We present new results fro... Read More about Further investigation into the impact of manuring on stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen isotope (δ15N) values in pulses: a four-year experiment examining Celtic bean (Vicia faba).

Neolithisation through bone: Stable isotope analysis of human and faunal remains from Syltholm II, Lolland, Denmark (2024)
Journal Article
Gron, K. J., Gröcke, D. R., Groß, D., Rowley-Conwy, P., Robson, H. K., & Montgomery, J. (2024). Neolithisation through bone: Stable isotope analysis of human and faunal remains from Syltholm II, Lolland, Denmark. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 53, Article 104384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104384

Despite an increasing number of studies, the application of stable sulfur (δ34S) isotope analysis to prehistoric bone collagen remains in its infancy. Conventionally, stable sulfur isotope compositions reflect coastal proximity and the interaction be... Read More about Neolithisation through bone: Stable isotope analysis of human and faunal remains from Syltholm II, Lolland, Denmark.

Scotland’s first farmers: new insights into early farming practices in north-west Europe (2022)
Journal Article
Bishop, R., Gröcke, D., Ralston, I., Clarke, D., Lee, D., Shepherd, A., Thomas, A., Rowley-Conwy, P., & Church, M. (2022). Scotland’s first farmers: new insights into early farming practices in north-west Europe. Antiquity, 96(389), https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2022.107

Thirty years after the discovery of an Early Neolithic timber hall at Balbridie in Scotland was reported in Antiquity, new analysis of the site's archaeobotanical assemblage, featuring 20 000 cereal grains preserved when the building burnt down in th... Read More about Scotland’s first farmers: new insights into early farming practices in north-west Europe.

A Comparison of Dietary Isotopes in Pulp Stones and Incremental Dentine from Early Neolithic Individuals of the Whitwell Long Cairn, England (2022)
Journal Article
Ostrum, B., Gröcke, D. R., & Montgomery, J. (2022). A Comparison of Dietary Isotopes in Pulp Stones and Incremental Dentine from Early Neolithic Individuals of the Whitwell Long Cairn, England. American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 177(4), 769-783. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24479

Objectives: This study investigates if palaeodietary information can be obtained from pulp stones through stable isotope analysis, presents a method for their extraction from tooth samples, and assesses their utility as a source of paleodietary infor... Read More about A Comparison of Dietary Isotopes in Pulp Stones and Incremental Dentine from Early Neolithic Individuals of the Whitwell Long Cairn, England.

Transhumance in the Early Neolithic? Carbon and oxygen isotope insights into sheep husbandry at Arene Candide, Northern Italy (2021)
Journal Article
Karkuleviciute, K., Gron, K., Patterson, W., Panelli, C., Rossi, S., Timsic, S., Gröcke, D., Maggi, R., & Rowley-Conwy, P. (2021). Transhumance in the Early Neolithic? Carbon and oxygen isotope insights into sheep husbandry at Arene Candide, Northern Italy. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 40(Part B), Article 103240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.103240

Vertical transhumance is historically known as an animal management practice in the Mediterranean that mitigates the risk of overgrazing and unpalatable pastures. It has long been debated whether the practice developed together with the spread of the... Read More about Transhumance in the Early Neolithic? Carbon and oxygen isotope insights into sheep husbandry at Arene Candide, Northern Italy.

Childhood in Colonial Otago, New Zealand: Integrating Isotopic and Dental Evidence for Growth Disturbance and Oral Health (2021)
Journal Article
King, C. L., Kinaston, R. L., Snoddy, A. M. E., Buckley, H. R., Petchey, P., Millard, A. R., & Gröcke, D. R. (2022). Childhood in Colonial Otago, New Zealand: Integrating Isotopic and Dental Evidence for Growth Disturbance and Oral Health. Childhood in the Past, 15(1), 15-43. https://doi.org/10.1080/17585716.2021.1989211

Experiences of childhood in colonial New Zealand are difficult to reconstruct from the historical record alone. Many of those who came to the colony were illiterate, and the Victorian tendency to avoid discussion of pregnancy and breastfeeding practi... Read More about Childhood in Colonial Otago, New Zealand: Integrating Isotopic and Dental Evidence for Growth Disturbance and Oral Health.

A Land of Plenty? Colonial Diet in Rural New Zealand (2021)
Journal Article
King, C. L., Petchey, P., Kinaston, R., Gröcke, D. R., Millard, A. R., Wanhalla, A., Brooking, T., Matisoo-Smith, E., & Buckley, H. R. (2021). A Land of Plenty? Colonial Diet in Rural New Zealand. Historical Archaeology, 55(2), 250-268. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41636-020-00276-y

Colonial New Zealand was built on the ideal of creating better lives for settlers. Emigrants came looking to escape the shackles of the class-system and poor conditions in Industrial Revolution period Britain. Colonial propaganda claimed that most em... Read More about A Land of Plenty? Colonial Diet in Rural New Zealand.

Effects of marine biofertilisation on Celtic bean carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotopes: implications for reconstructing past diet and farming practices (2021)
Journal Article
Gröcke, D. R., Treasure, E. R., Lester, J. J., Gron, K. J., & Church, M. J. (2021). Effects of marine biofertilisation on Celtic bean carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotopes: implications for reconstructing past diet and farming practices. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 35(5), Article e8985. https://doi.org/10.1002/rcm.8985

Rationale: The application of fertilisers to crops can be monitored and assessed using stable isotope ratios. However, the application of marine biofertilisers (e.g. fish, macroalgae/seaweed) on crop stable isotope ratios has been rarely studied, des... Read More about Effects of marine biofertilisation on Celtic bean carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotopes: implications for reconstructing past diet and farming practices.

Archaeological cereals as an isotope record of long-term soil health and anthropogenic amendment in southern Scandinavia (2021)
Journal Article
Gron, K., Larsson, M., Gröcke, D., Andersen, N., Andreasen, M., Bech, J.-H., Henriksen, P., Hilton, R., Jessen, M., Møller, N., Nielsen, F., Nielsen, P., Pihl, A., Sørensen, L., Westphal, J., Rowley-Conwy, P., & Church, M. (2021). Archaeological cereals as an isotope record of long-term soil health and anthropogenic amendment in southern Scandinavia. Quaternary Science Reviews, 253, Article 106762. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106762

Maintaining soil health is integral to agricultural production, and the archaeological record contains multiple lines of palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental proxy evidence that can contribute to the understanding and analysis of long-term trajecto... Read More about Archaeological cereals as an isotope record of long-term soil health and anthropogenic amendment in southern Scandinavia.

A multi-isotope (C, N, O, Sr, Pb) study of Iron Age and Roman period skeletons from east Edinburgh, Scotland exploring the relationship between decapitation burials and geographical origins (2019)
Journal Article
Moore, J., Rose, A., Anderson, S., Evans, J., Nowell, G., Grocke, D., Pashley, V., Kirby, M., & Montgomery, J. (2020). A multi-isotope (C, N, O, Sr, Pb) study of Iron Age and Roman period skeletons from east Edinburgh, Scotland exploring the relationship between decapitation burials and geographical origins. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 29, Article 102075. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.102075

Recent excavations at Musselburgh, East Lothian (Scotland) revealed twelve skeletons, radiocarbon dated to the Iron Age and Roman period. The high incidence of skeletal trauma characteristic of decapitation in those of Roman date makes this site unus... Read More about A multi-isotope (C, N, O, Sr, Pb) study of Iron Age and Roman period skeletons from east Edinburgh, Scotland exploring the relationship between decapitation burials and geographical origins.

At the world’s edge: reconstructing diet and geographic origins in medieval Iceland using isotope and trace element analyses (2019)
Journal Article
Walser, J. W. I., Kristjánsdóttir, S., Gröcke, D. R., Gowland, R., Jakob, T., Nowell, G., Ottley, C., & Montgomery, J. (2020). At the world’s edge: reconstructing diet and geographic origins in medieval Iceland using isotope and trace element analyses. American journal of physical anthropology, 171(1), 142-163. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23973

Objectives. A multi-isotope study was conducted on individuals buried at Skriðuklaustur monastery (AD 1493–1554) to investigate their geographic origins and dietary composition. Comparative material from individuals excavated from Skeljastaðir, an in... Read More about At the world’s edge: reconstructing diet and geographic origins in medieval Iceland using isotope and trace element analyses.

Childhood “stress” and stable isotope life-histories in Transylvania (2019)
Journal Article
Crowder, K., Montgomery, J., Gröcke, D., & Filipek, K. (2019). Childhood “stress” and stable isotope life-histories in Transylvania. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 29(4), 644-653. https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.2760

Aims and Objectives: Macroscopic skeletal analysis and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses were employed to examine the relationship between skeletal “stress” lesions and changes in the isotopic life‐history profiles of six non‐adults from th... Read More about Childhood “stress” and stable isotope life-histories in Transylvania.

"Investigation of a Historical Crime Scene" - A Comprehensive Study of an Unusual Burial in the Calvinist Church of Sóly, Hungary (2019)
Journal Article
László, O., Millard, A. R., Gröcke, D., Rácz, M., & Nowell, G. (2019). "Investigation of a Historical Crime Scene" - A Comprehensive Study of an Unusual Burial in the Calvinist Church of Sóly, Hungary. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 25, 320-330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.04.015

A rescue excavation in the Chapel of the Presbyterian Church of Sóly, explored a grave of two men in an unusual position among 20 other child burials in 2008-2009. The burial is dated to the early modern (16-17th century AD) Period. The 45-50-year-ol... Read More about "Investigation of a Historical Crime Scene" - A Comprehensive Study of an Unusual Burial in the Calvinist Church of Sóly, Hungary.

A Meeting In The Forest: Hunters And Farmers At The Coneybury ‘Anomaly’, Wiltshire (2018)
Journal Article
Gron, K. J., Rowley-Conwy, P., Fernandez-Dominguez, E., Gröcke, D. R., Montgomery, J., Nowell, G. M., & Patterson, W. P. (2018). A Meeting In The Forest: Hunters And Farmers At The Coneybury ‘Anomaly’, Wiltshire. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 84, 111-144. https://doi.org/10.1017/ppr.2018.15

The Coneybury ‘Anomaly’ is an Early Neolithic pit located just south-east of Stonehenge, Wiltshire. Excavations recovered a faunal assemblage unique in its composition, consisting of both wild and domestic species, as well as large quantities of cera... Read More about A Meeting In The Forest: Hunters And Farmers At The Coneybury ‘Anomaly’, Wiltshire.

Estudio isotópico del consumo de recursos maritimos y terrestres en la prehistoria del desierto de Atacama (Isotopic study of marine and terrestrial resources in the prehistory of the Atacama Desert) (2018)
Journal Article
King, C., Arriaza, B., Standen, V., Millard, A., Gröcke, D., Muñoz, I., & Halcrow, S. (2018). Estudio isotópico del consumo de recursos maritimos y terrestres en la prehistoria del desierto de Atacama (Isotopic study of marine and terrestrial resources in the prehistory of the Atacama Desert). Chungara (Arica. En línea), 50(3), 369-396. https://doi.org/10.4067/s0717-73562018005000802

Este trabajo explora desde una perspectiva diacrónica la dieta de las poblaciones prehispánicas de la región de Arica mediante análisis isotópicos de δ13C y δ15N, con el propósito de evaluar si hubieron cambios en los patrones dietarios desde los pri... Read More about Estudio isotópico del consumo de recursos maritimos y terrestres en la prehistoria del desierto de Atacama (Isotopic study of marine and terrestrial resources in the prehistory of the Atacama Desert).

Aurochs Hunters: The Large Animal Bones from Blick Mead (2018)
Book Chapter
Rogers, B., Gron, K., Montgomery, J., Gröcke, D., & Rowley-Conwy, P. (2018). Aurochs Hunters: The Large Animal Bones from Blick Mead. In D. Jacques, T. Phillips, & T. Lyons (Eds.), Blick mead : exploring the 'first place' in the Stonehenge landscape. Archaeological excavations at Blick Mead, Amesbury, Wiltshire 2005–2016 (127-152). Peter Lang. https://doi.org/10.3726/b11044

The site of Blick Mead has attracted an unusual degree of interest. In addition to its intrinsic importance as a Mesolithic site, its location less than two kilometres east of Stonehenge and its temporal overlap with the massive Mesolithic posts in t... Read More about Aurochs Hunters: The Large Animal Bones from Blick Mead.