Strontium and Oxygen Isotope Analyses Reveal Late Cretaceous Shark Teeth in Iron Age Strata in the Southern Levant
fevo-08-570032 December 11, 2020 Time: 20:56 # 1 ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 17 December 2020 doi: 10.3389/fevo.2020.570032 Strontium and Oxygen Isotope Analyses Reveal Late Cretaceous Shark Teeth in Iron Age Strata in the Southern Levant Thomas Tütken1*, Michael Weber1, Irit Zohar2,3, Hassan Helmy4, Nicolas Bourgon5, Omri Lernau3, Klaus Peter Jochum6 and Guy Sisma-Ventura7* 1 Institute of Geosciences, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany, 2 Beit Margolin, Oranim Academic College, Kiryat Tivon, Israel, 3 Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel, 4 Department of Geology, Minia University, Minia, Egypt, 5 Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany, 6 Department of Climate Geochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany, 7 Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Haifa, Israel Skeletal remains in archaeological strata are often assumed to be of similar ages. Here we show that combined Sr and O isotope analyses can serve as a powerful tool for assessing fish provenance and even for identifying fossil fish teeth in archaeological Edited by: contexts. For this purpose, we established a reference Sr and O isotope dataset of Brooke Crowley, extant fish teeth from major water bodies in the Southern Levant. Fossil shark teeth were University of Cincinnati, United States identified within Iron Age cultural layers dating to 8–9th century BCE in the City of David, Reviewed by: Jerusalem, although the reason for their presence remains unclear. Their enameloid Laszlo Kocsis, 87 86 18 Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Brunei Sr/ Sr and d OPO4 values [0.7075 ± 0.0001 (1 SD, n = 7) and 19.6 ± 0.9 Malte Willmes, (1 SD, n = 6), respectively], are both much lower than values typical for modern marineh University of California, Santa Cruz, United States sharks from the Mediterranean Sea [0.7092 and 22.5–24.6 (n = 2), respectively].
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