Stable isotope analysis of 21 individuals from the Epipalaeolithic cemetery of Vasilyevka III, Dnieper Rapids region, Ukraine.

Bone collagen extracted from 21 humans from the Epipalaeolithic cemetery of Vasilyevka III was analysed for their δ13C and δ15N ratios. This particular cemetery is one of the three early sites from the Dnieper Rapids region, with Vasilyevka III being dated to the period 10,400–9200 cal. BC on the basis of three radiocarbon determinations. As a consequence, the analyses presented here provide insights into the nature of the diet of these populations during a stage of major restructuring of the landscapes in the European mainland and more specifically in this context, the Dnieper region. The absolute age of Vasilyevka III places it at a point in time immediately after the occurrence of the most significant environmental changes in the former USSR, with the shift from late Pleistocene hyperzonal environments, to zonal vegetation types more characteristic of the Holocene period being in evidence in the palaeoenvironmental record