With apologies for cross-posting, Dear All, The deadline of *20 December 2014* is now fast approaching for abstracts for the 2015 meeting of the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA), which will take place from 27 July– 2 August 2015 in Nagoya, Japan (www.inqua2015.jp). I would like to invite contributions for the session H23, *The isotope ecology of migration: Reconstructing mammalian ethology and its implications for prehistoric human mobility and decision-making.*
Session Description: Throughout prehistory, the seasonal density, distribution, and movement of animals would have influenced forager decisions regarding what to eat, where to live, how long to stay there, and when to move. The behavior of migratory species, including large-bodied herbivores moving in herds, likely played a significant role in human mobility strategies. Projecting modern herbivore ethology into the past is problematic for both extant and extinct species, but stable isotope analysis has emerged as a valuable tool for detecting evidence of migration and seasonal movement. In particular, analysis of oxygen, carbon, and strontium of ancient mammal teeth and bone has the ability to generate robust datasets that can be used to reconstruct migratory behavior, integral to archaeological interpretations of human-animal-environment interactions. Proxy datasets created by the analysis of modern herbivore populations are critical for assessing the relationships between the isotopic signals recorded by teeth in different environments and variables such as temperature, precipitation, moisture availability, and animal diet and physiology. To that end, this session invites papers dealing with datasets from both modern and ancient mammal populations that seek to advance or critique current methods for detecting and reconstructing migratory behavior of herds and individuals using stable isotope analysis as well as papers that integrate these analyses with other types of neo- and paleoecological data. Abstracts must be submitted before midnight (GMT) *December 20, 2014*, at the following link: http://convention.jtbcom.co.jp/inqua2015/call_for_abstracts.html Please feel free to contact me before submitting your abstract to discuss the session. Best wishes, Suzanne Pilaar Birch (session organizer) -- Dr. Suzanne E. Pilaar Birch Assistant Professor Department of Anthropology Department of Geography University of Georgia Athens, GA, USA Editor-in-Chief, Open Quaternary openquaternary.com Website: uga.academia.edu/SuzannePilaarBirch Twitter: @suzie_birch
