isotope analysis in archaeology

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the use of isotopic ratios preserved in human and animal bones, teeth, and plant remains to reconstruct diet, geographic origin, migration, and environmental conditions in past populations; different isotopes of elements including strontium, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and lead occur in systematically varying ratios depending on geology, climate, and diet, and these ratios are incorporated into body tissues as organisms grow, creating a chemical record of where they lived and what they ate; strontium and oxygen isotopes in tooth enamel record the region where an individual grew up, enabling identification of migrants within archaeological populations; carbon and nitrogen isotopes record diet, distinguishing plant from animal foods and marine from terrestrial protein sources; isotope analysis has transformed bioarchaeology and the study of human mobility in prehistory