Nicolas Bourgon

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.

• 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. 8^th 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. 8^thAnnual 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. 4^thYoung Natural History Scientists’ Meeting (YNHM). 2017

• 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

• 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