Isotopes in archaeology

Dayton, J. A. and A. Dayton (1986), Uses and limitations of lead isotopes in archaeology, Proc. 24th Int. Archaeometry Symp., pp. 13-41. 

Pollard, A. M. (in press a). What a long strange trip it s been lead isotopes in archaeology. In From Mine to Microscope - analysing ancient technology, eds. Shortland, A., Freestone, I., and Rehren, T. 

Isotopes are involved today in virtually all areas of chemistry. The use of isotopes in archaeological chemistry is widespread and rapidly growing, with many different applications. Different isotopes are used with many different kinds of materials to answer a variety of questions. Some of these isotope ratios are listed in Table 4.1 along with additional information on their abundance in nature, the kinds of materials sampled, and the kinds of information obtained in archaeological applications. Isotopes of oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and strontium isotopes are more commonly used in archaeological applications and are discussed in more detail in this chapter. 

Table 4.1 Important isotopes in archaeological investigations and information on natural abundance, the isotope ratio of importance, the kinds of materials analyzed, and applications...

Carbon and nitrogen isotopes in archaeology are used primarily in the study of past diet, but there are also important applications that concern past environments and human activity. Carbon and oxygen isotopes have been used in proveniencing to determine the source of marble and other forms of carbonate rocks. Carbon isotopes have been used as survey tool to locate the boundaries of ancient soils and determine the extent of certain types of vegetation. The discussion below focuses on human bone and questions about past diets, the primary application of these two isotopic systems. These principles are also involved in the study of other questions. 

Horstwood et al. [Ill] reported results of experiments to determine strontium isotopes in archaeological tooth enamel using LA-MC-ICP-MS and pointed out the need for careful attention to interferences from the calcium phosphate matrix. In another study, Richards et al. [112] detected evidence of Neanderthal mobility via LA-MC-ICP-MS characterization of strontium isotope ratios in tooth enamel. Enamel values from a Neanderthal molar recovered from a coastal limestone environment in Greece were found to be consistent with... 

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