Bone apatite stable isotope analysis

Tykot, R.H., van der Merwe, N.J. and Hammond, N. 1996 Stable isotope analysis of bone collagen, bone apatite, and tooth enamel in the reconstruction of human diet. A case study from Cuello, Belize. In Orna, M.V., ed., Archaeological Chemistry Organic, Inorganic, and Biochemical Analysis. ACS Symposium Series 625, Washington, DC, American Chemical Society 355-365. 

Empirical and experimental data have indicated that different bone tissues reflect different components of the diet (27-22). In general, bone collagen is produced primarily from the protein portion of the diet, while bone apatite and tooth enamel are produced from a mixture of dietary protein, carbohydrates and fats. Stable isotope analysis of both bone collagen and apatite thus permits quantitative estimates of several dietary components. Both bone collagen and apatite are constantly being resorbed and replenished, so that their isotopic composition reflects dietary averages over at least the last several years of an individual s life. The apatite in tooth enamel, however, is not turned over, and represents diet at the time of tooth formation, often from a pre-weaning age. 

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Stable carbon isotope analysis is particularly useful in New World dietary studies since maize is often the only C4 plant contributing significantly to human diets its contribution to bone collagen and to bone apatite may be estimated by interpolation. Some caution is warranted, however, if succulent plants were present, since they utilize the alternative CAM (crassulacean acid metabolism) photosynthetic pathway which results in carbon isotope ratios similar to those of C4 plants. Nevertheless, CAM plants are unlikely to have been major sources of dietary protein, whether consumed directly or indirectly through herbivorous faunal intermediaries. 

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