Abstract Although camels are not indigenous to Europe, they have been found at several sites from several Roman provinces dating from the beginning of the 1st century AD onwards. It must have been beneficial to bring them there. Based on finds of remains from juvenile individuals (e.g. from Tanais), it has been suggested that the Romans might have systematically bred camels within Europe. For this study we took serial samples of the enamel of four camels from European sites (Innsbruck-Wilten, Mamer-Bertrange, Tongeren, and Trier) dating to the 2nd - 4th century AD. We measured the relative abundances of carbon and oxygen isotopes of the carbonate fraction from the tooth enamel. The continuous record of oxygen and carbon isotopic composition of the intra tooth enamel serial samples reflects the climate and habitat in which an individual lived during the time of tooth mineralization. We used these data to make a rough evaluation of the areas of origin consistent with the relative abundances of the isotopes from the enamel of the camels and attempt to reconstruct their life history and mobility behavior based on the different ecological characteristics of the habitats represented in the isotopic data. Furthermore, the data can function as an additional proxy for species determination, due to the different habitats of Camelus bactrianus and Camelus dromedarius. This work also yields interesting insights on the similarities in the mobility pattern of the camels from Mamer-Bertrange and Trier. In combination with archaeological evidence, it was possible to tentatively connect them with specific military units, i.e. the detachments of the Legio VIII Augusta.

中文翻译：

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通过牙釉质中连续稳定的碳和氧同位素变化，罗马帝国骆驼的流动性和起源

摘要 虽然骆驼不是欧洲本土的，但从公元 1 世纪初开始，在罗马几个省的几个地点就发现了骆驼。把他们带到那里一定是有益的。根据对幼年个体（例如来自塔奈斯）的遗骸的发现，有人认为罗马人可能在欧洲有系统地繁殖骆驼。在这项研究中，我们从公元 2 至 4 世纪的欧洲遗址（因斯布鲁克-威尔滕、马默-伯特兰奇、通厄伦和特里尔）采集了四头骆驼的牙釉质样本。我们测量了牙釉质中碳酸盐部分的碳和氧同位素的相对丰度。牙釉质内连续样本的氧和碳同位素组成的连续记录反映了个体在牙齿矿化期间生活的气候和栖息地。我们利用这些数据对与骆驼牙釉质同位素相对丰度一致的原产地进行了粗略评估，并尝试根据骆驼牙釉质中所代表的栖息地的不同生态特征重建它们的生活史和迁移行为。同位素数据。此外，由于双峰驼和单峰驼的栖息地不同，这些数据可以作为物种确定的额外代理。这项工作还对来自 Mamer-Bertrange 和 Trier 的骆驼的移动模式的相似性产生了有趣的见解。