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Nicolas Bourgon

NBourgon2018.JPG

Doctoral Student

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Department of Human Evolution
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig
Germany

phone: 0049 (0) 341 3550 364
fax: 0049 (0) 341 3550 399
e-mail: nicolas_bourgon@~@eva.mpg.de

Research Interests
Curriculum Vitae
Publications

Research Interests

I am a PhD student in the IMPRS program at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in the Department of Human Evolution.

I am primarily interested in paleoecological and paleoethological studies using stable isotopes analysis. Through this method, valuable insights can be assessed on past phenomenon and on interactions between humans, animals and their respective environment. My past research projects, carried out at the National Museum of Natural History of Paris within the UMR 7209, focused on such topics on Late Pleistocene fossil-bearing sites in Southeast Asia, notably in Cambodia and Laos.

My doctoral research seeks to explore the use of new, “non-traditional” isotope systems, in Paleolithic food webs. To this end, Ca, Sr and Zn stable isotopes will be investigated as dietary and mobility tracers – the main component studied from such isotopes – thus offering a higher level of food traceability. The use of these non-traditional isotopes in archaeological researches can notably be used in context where collagen is no longer preserved and has already demonstrated its various promising results. Trophic level and more precise diet could thus be accessed for sites and periods where traditional stable isotopes would only offer a limited range of information.

Curriculum Vitae

Education

2017 - Present

Ph.D. in Applied and Analytical Paleontology
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Institute of Geosciences
In collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology,
Department of Human Evolution
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Thomas Tütken and Dr. Klervia Jaouen
2015-2017 Masters in Archaeology: Quaternary and prehistory
Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (M.N.H.N.), Paris
Master “Evolution, Natural heritage and Societies: Quaternary and Prehistory”
Speciality: Anatomical and taxonomical diversity of Quaternary zooarchaeology
Supervisors: Dr. Élise Dufour and Dr. Anne-Marie Bacon
2011-2014 B.A. in Archaeology
Laval University, Québec
International profile, during the 2014 autumn semester in Paris IV, La Sorbonne

Conference Presentations, Posters, and Abstracts

  • Bourgon N., Jaouen K., Bacon A.-M., Dufour É., Demeter F., Antoine P.-O., Boesch Q., Duringer P., Patole-Edoumba É., Ponche J.-L., Shackelford L., Duangthongchit S., Sayavonkhamdy T., Sichanthongtip P., Sihanam D., Souksavatdy V., Hublin J.-J., Tütken T., 2018. Preservation and variation of diet-related zinc isotope in a Late Pleistocene food web: Perspectives on a new dietary tracer. 8th International Symposium on Biomolecular Archaeology ISBA.
  • Bourgon N., Jaouen K., Bacon A.-M., Dufour É., Demeter F., Antoine P.-O., Boesch Q., Duringer P., Patole-Edoumba É., Ponche J.-L., Shackelford L., Duangthongchit S., Sayavonkhamdy T., Sichanthongtip P., Sihanam D., Souksavatdy V., Hublin J.-J., Tütken T., 2018. Zinc isotopes as a dietary indicator for archaeology and paleontology: Insights from a Southeast Asian Late Pleistocene food web. 8thAnnual Meeting of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution.
  • Bourgon N., Jaouen K., Bacon A.-M., Dufour É., Demeter F., Antoine P.-O., Boesch Q., Duringer P., Patole-Edoumba É., Ponche J.-L., Shackelford L., Duangthongchit S., Sayavonkhamdy T., Sichanthongtip P., Sihanam D., Souksavatdy V., Hublin J.-J., Tütken T., 2018. Zinc isotopes on fossil teeth and their use as dietary tracer: Evidences from a multi-isotopes study. Frontiers in Archaeological Sciences 2.
  • Bourgon, N. 4thYoung Natural History Scientists’ Meeting (YNHM). 2017

Archaeological Employment

2016-2017 Assistant archaeologist for Ian Badgley 
National Capital Commission, Ottawa, Canada
Organization, management and excavation of the Archaic to Woodland BiFw-18 archaeological site, Leamy Lake Park, Gatineau, Canada

Analytical and Technical Training

  • Drilling of bulk and sequential samplesfrom tooth enamel for stable isotope analysis
  • Sample preparation for δ13C and δ18O analysisof the structural carbonate fraction
  • Sample preparation for δ66Zn and 87Sr/86Sr analysis of bulk tooth enamel 
  • Sample preparation for δ13C and δ15N analysis of bulk bone collagen
  • Multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) analysis of δ66Zn and 87Sr/86Sr analysis of bulk tooth enamel
  • Zooarchaeological  anatomical and taxonomic identification and data analysis: recording of taxonomic, demographic and metrical information, fragmentation patterns and processing modifications, generating mortality profiles
  • Statistical Data Analysis using R: descriptive statistics and data visualization, linear and non-linear regression analysis, multivariate statistics
  • Stable Isotope Mixing Models using R: SIAR, SIBER,  MixSIAR (SIMM) and simmR, offered by PRstatitics,
    Instructors: Dr. Andrew Jackson, Dr. Andrew Parnell

Archaeological Science Work

2016-2017 Master's research thesis 
Sampling,  samples preparation and data analysis of δ13C and δ18O stable isotope analysis of tooth enamel,as part of my second year of post-graduate program, within the U.M.R. 7209 of the C.N.R.S. ("Archaeozoology, Archaeobotanics: Societies, Practices and Environments"): “Isotopic analysis of continental large carnivores fauna of the Upper Pleistocene of Laos.”
2015-2016 Master’s Introductory research thesis
Sampling, samples preparation and data analysis of δ13C and δ18O stable isotope analysis of tooth enamel,as part of my first year of post-graduate program, within the U.M.R. 7209 of the C.N.R.S. ("Archaeozoology, Archaeobotany: cultures, human practices and environments"): “Trophic study based on stable isotope analysis of tooth enamel (C & O) on a mammal collection from the Cambodian site of Boh Dambang, in Southeast Asia.”
2011-2014 Zooarchaeological Work for Professor James Woollett
Laval University, Québec, Canada
Identification and description of faunal material from Svalbard, Iceland

 

Archaeological Field Work

  • 2016/2017
    At the Archaic to Woodland BiFw-18 site, Leamy Lake Park, Gatineau, Canada
    Supervisors: N.C.C. archaeologist Ian Badgley 
  • 2013
    At the historic site of Îlot-du-Palais (Colonial to Industrial era periods), Québec, Canada
    Supervisors: Professor Réginal Auger and Professor Allison Bain
  • 2012/2016
    At the Magdalenian site of Pincevent, France
    Supervisors: Professor Michel Orliac, Dr. Pierre Bodu and Dr. Olivier Bignon

Publications

Articles

McCormack, J., Szpak, P., Bourgon, N., Richards, M. P., Hyland, C., Méjean, P., Hublin, J.-J., & Jaouen, K. (in preparation). Advantages of zinc isotopes as a new dietary proxy in marine ecology.
DOI   

Bourgon, N., Jaouen, K., Bacon, A.-M., Dufour, E., McCormack, J., Tran, N.-H., Trost, M., Fiorillo, D., Dunn, T. E., Zanolli, C., Zachwieja, A., Duringer, P., Ponche, J.-L., Boesch, Q., Antoine, P.-O., Westaway, K. E., Joannes-Boyau, R., Suzzoni, E., Frangeul, S., Crozier, F., Aubaile, F., Patole-Edoumba, E., Luangkhoth, T., Souksavatdy, V., Boualaphane, S., Sayavonkhamdy, T., Sichanthongtip, P., Sihanam, D., Demeter, F., Shackelford, L. L., Hublin, J.-J., & Tütken, T. (2021). Trophic ecology of a Late Pleistocene early modern human from tropical Southeast Asia inferred from zinc isotopes. Journal of Human Evolution, 161: 103075.
DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Pederzani, S. C., Britton, K., Aldeias, V., Bourgon, N., Fewlass, H., Lauer, T., McPherron, S. P., Rezek, Z., Sirakov, N., Smith, G. M., Spasov, R., Tran, N.-H., Tsanova, T., & Hublin, J.-J. (2021). Subarctic climate for the earliest Homo sapiens in Europe. Science Advances, 7(39): abi4642.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

McCormack, J., Szpak, P., Bourgon, N., Richards, M., Hyland, C., Méjean, P., Hublin, J.-J., & Jaouen, K. (2021). Zinc isotopes from archaeological bones provide reliable trophic level information for marine mammals. Communications Biology, 4(1): 683.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Tütken, T., Weber, M., Zohar, I., Helmy, H., Bourgon, N., Lernau, O., Jochum, K. P., & Sisma-Ventura, G. (2020). Strontium and Oxygen Isotope Analyses Reveal Late Cretaceous Shark Teeth in Iron Age Strata in the Southern Levant. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 8.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Jaouen, K., Trost, M., Bourgon, N., Colleter, R., Le Cabec, A., Tütken, T., Elias Oliveira, R., Pons, M. L., Méjean, P., Steinbrenner, S., Chmeleff, J., & Strauss, A. (2020). Zinc isotope variations in archeological human teeth (Lapa do Santo, Brazil) reveal dietary transitions in childhood and no contamination from gloves. PLOS ONE, 15(5).
DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Bourgon, N., Jaouen, K., Bacon, A.-M., Jochum, K. P., Dufour, E., Duringer, P., Ponche, J.-L., Joannes-Boyau, R., Boesch, Q., Antoine, P.-O., Hullot, M., Weis, U., Schulz-Kornas, E., Trost, M., Fiorillo, D., Demeter, F., Patole-Edoumba, E., Shackelford, L. L., Dunn, T. E., Zachwieja, A., Duangthongchit, S., Sayavonkhamdy, T., Sichanthongtip, P., Sihanam, D., Souksavatdy, V., Hublin, J.-J., & Tütken, T. (2020). Zinc isotopes in Late Pleistocene fossil teeth from a Southeast Asian cave setting preserve paleodietary information. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(9), 4431-4433.
Open Access    DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Bacon, A.-M., Bourgon, N., Dufour, E., Zanolli, C., Duringer, P., Ponche, J.-L., Antoine, P.-O., Shackelford, L., Huong, N. T. M., Sayavonkhamdy, T., Patole-Edoumba, E., & Demeter, F. (2018). Nam Lot (MIS 5) and Duoi U'Oi (MIS 4) Southeast Asian sites revisited: Zooarchaeological and isotopic evidences. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 512, 132-144.
DOI    BibTeX   Endnote   

Bacon, A.-M., Duringer, P., Westaway, K., Joannes-Boyau, R., Zhao, J.-x., Bourgon, N., Dufour, E., Pheng, S., Tep, S., Ponche, J.-L., Barnes, L., Blin, A., Patole-Edoumba, E., & Demeter, F. (2018). Testing the savannah corridor hypothesis during MIS2: The Boh Dambang hyena site in southern Cambodia. Quaternary International, 464(Part B), 417-439.
DOI    BibTeX   Endnote