Palaeodietary Study of Iron Age Population from Gohar Tepe (Iran)

Human and animal skeletal remains can provide information about the food chain of inhabitant’s nutrition of archaeologicalsites. The food chain which at it minerals and organic materials transferred from soil to the plants, from plants to theanimals, and from herbivores animals to the carnivores, is the benchmark system in ancient diet. Although Chemicalinteractions between soils, animal and human remains should not be disregarded, chemical data can provide usefulinformation about the paleodiet. In present paper, the concentration of Chemical elements was analyzed in eight premolarteeth of mature individuals as well as a teenager without discrimination of their sex, from discovered graves of Iron Ageof Gohar Tepe. The site had been populated until the Iron Age. In addition, we have investigated the ratios of Sr, Ba, Ca,P, with the purpose of studying the food chain from animal to human by analyzing discovered animal teeth in the site.To control diagenetic processes, the calcium/phosphorus (Ca/P) index was used. Furthermore the amount of chemicalelement in teeth and peripheral soil was compared. Concentration level of Chemical elements was measured by atomicabsorption spectroscopy (AAS). The Strontium content and the Ba/Sr ratios show that the human population in GoharTepe used products of animal origin somewhat more than plants and terrestrial food more than seafood in their diet.