Question

In a Neanderthal family’s cave in Europe, I discover some charcoal with a delta 13C value of -25 parts per thousand (ppt). I also find some grain kernels with a value of -24 ppt. If the bone of one of the inhabitants of this cave has a value of -16.5 ppt, should I conclude the Neanderthal specimen was largely carnivorous, or was mostly a vegetarian. Assume the grain is characteristic of the food available both for the caveman (who eats it directly) and the animals that he might hunt, and assume the animals’ fractionation factor for flesh is +3.0 ppt as it is for humans. Explain quantitatively

Answer 1

as explained here, our calculated value for fractionation factor is not in accordance with the given value (+3.0) for human and animal. hence the inhabitant in cave was not an animal or human. it was vegetarian.