SESS 5_16022011_edi as.pub Il Quaternario Italian Journal of Quaternary Sciences 24, (Abstract AIQUA, Roma 02/2011), Congresso AIQUA Il Quaternario Italiano: conoscenze e prospettive Roma 24 e 25 febbraio 2011 CARBON ISOTOPE COMPOSITION OF ARCHAEOBOTANICAL REMAINS FOR THE PALAEOCLIMATIC RECONSTRUCTION Alessia Masi 1, Ilaria Baneschi 2, Laura Sadori 1 & Giovanni Zanchetta 3 1 Dipartimento di Biologia Ambientale - Università “Sapienza”, Roma 2 Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse – CNR, Pisa 3 Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra - Università di Pisa, Pisa Corresponding author: A. Masi ABSTRACT: Masi A. et al., Carbon isotope composition of archaeobotanical remains for the palaeoclimatic reconstruc- tion (IT ISSN 0394-3356, 2011) A long-lived Anatolian archaeological site (Arslantepe, Malatya plain) was investigated under a palaeoclimate perspec- tive. Identified plant charred macroremains underwent an isotopic analysis to determine carbon isotope composition. The results obtained are used to assess the degree of climate changes in the site and its surroundings. RIASSUNTO: Masi A. et al., La composizione isotopica del carbonio di resti archeobotanici per la ricostruzione paleocli- matica. (IT ISSN 0394-3356, 2011) Un sito dell'Anatolia, caratterizzato da una lunga occupazione, è stato preso in considerazione per una ricostruzione paleoclimatica. Alcuni resti vegetali carbonizzati sono stati sottoposti ad analisi isotopica per determinare la composizio- ne isotopica del carbonio. I risultati ottenuti contribuisscono a comprendere i cambi climatici del sito e del territorio circo- stante. Key words: plant macroremains, isotopes, archaeological site, climate change Parole chiave: macroresti vegetali, isotopi, sito archeologico, cambiamento climatico The site of Arslantepe (Arslan = Lion, Tepe = mound) is located in the Malatya plain (eastern Turkey, central Anatolia). Today is a hill, 30 m high (Fig. 1), formed by a series of settlements built and destroyed in five thousand years of almost uninterrupted occupation (table 1). Arslantepe has been bringing to light extraordinary remains of past prehistoric and protohistoric cultures of Eastern Anatolia. The excavation is still ongoing, the oldest archaeological level dates back to the 7th millennium BP, the youngest is of Byzantine times. Excavations of “La Sapienza” University of Rome at the site have been carried out uninterruptedly since 1961, bringing to light a lot of archaeobotanical material coming from the entire succession of occupation of the site. The archaeobotanical studies highlighted the presence of various botanical taxa preserved by charring, belonging to arboreal and crop species. Great variety was found, the diversity in cultivated taxa and the selective use of wood can be either due to a choice or even to environmental availability. The charcoal assemblages (Fig. 2) of the 215 - 216 Fig. 1, Arslantepe. Aerial photograph of the site Arslantepe. Fotografia aerea del sito. Fig. 2, Arslantepe. Charcoal changes in the five investigated periods. Percentage diagram of ecological groups (see text) Arslantepe. Cambiamenti nei carboni nei cinque periodi indagati. Diagramma percentuale dei gruppi ecologici (vedi testo) 216 Ms. received: Testo ricevuto il investigated archaeological site indicate that wood resources were mainly exploited from two local ecological communities, the woody steppe (composed by deciduous and semi-deciduous  oaks with rosaceans) and the riparian vegetation. The last is from wet environments, including both hydrophilous (mainly alders and poplars with a slow amount of tamarisks) and possibly hygrophilous (elms and ashes) taxa. A considerably minor contribution is from mountain taxa (pines and junipers). The comparison of the relative taxa abundances in the single periods indicates that woodland-steppe elements are very abundant for half millennium, during the Early Bronze Age, from 3000 to 2500 years BC (VI B1, VI B2 and VI C periods). On the contrary hydrophilous elements are quite important during the Late Chalcolithic (VI A) and at the end of the Early Bronze Age (VI D), while woodland-steppe elements and mountain ones show opposite values in these two periods. As important structural changes are found between the various periods of Arslantepe, it is not clear if the important variations found in plants use by the successive settlers are due to cultural choices or to environmental changes. A contribute comes from the study of the stable carbon isotope carried out both on ancient and present-day plants. The relationship between the fractionation of carbon isotope and climate condition is well known. The 13C/12C ratio depends mainly on moisture stress and isotopic ratio of atmospheric CO2 (FARQUHAR G.D. et al., 1989). Such independent information of environmental variations permits to discriminate between cultural and environmental change (HALL G. et al., 2008; RIEHL S. et al., 2008). 13C/12C ratio analysis were performed by combustion in a Elemental Analyzer (Carlo Erba, EA1108) coupling with isotope ratio mass spectrometer (Delta plus XP Finnigan) via the Finnigan MAT Conflo II interface at IGG-CNR of Pisa. More than one hundred charred samples of deciduous Quercus and Juniperus were analyzed. They come from five archaeological periods of Arslantepe, ranging from late Chalcolithic V (5350- 5000 BP) to Early Bronze Age III (4500-4000 BP). The variability of data is high, however a d13C variation is present and some trends recognizable. The data coming from fossil assemblages are compared with those from living plants of the same genus in order to reconstruct past environment and climatic trend through more than one millennium. REFERENCES FARQUHAR G.D., EHLERINGER J.R. & HUBIK K.T. (1989) - Carbon isotope discrimination and photosynthesis. Annual Review of Plant Physiology 40, 503-537. HALL G., WOODBORNE S.M. & SCHOLES M. (2008) - Stable carbon isotope ratios from archaeological charcoal as palaeoenvironmental indicators. Chemical Geology, 247(3-4), 384-400. RIEHL S., BRYSON R. & PUSTOVOYTOV K. (2008) - Changing growing conditions for crops during the Near Eastern Bronze Age (3000-1200 BC): the stable carbon isotope evidence. Journal of Archaeological Science, 35, 1011-1022. January 14, 2011 14 gennaio 2011 Table 1, Arslantepe. Chronological periods Arslantepe. Periodi cronologici A. 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