Isotopic Dietary Reconstruction from Human Bone

4 ISOTOPIC DIETARY RECONSTRUCTION FROM HUMAN BONE 

Compared to the intensity of such research in North America, it is surprising to see how relatively little work has been done in Central and South America. 

Milner et al. (2004) cite evidence for continuity of occupation from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic at coastal sites in Denmark, pointing out the 

The Chemistry of Human Bone Diet, Nutrition, Status and Mobility 

Giles Humans n=17 Warrington Humans n=18 Towton Humans n=11 Ocattle n=13 sheep/goat n=14 3 horse n=4 Ared deer n=1 pig n=10 domestic fowl n=3 El dog n=6 cat n=3 

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We have alluded above to the fact that dietary reconstruction from bone can be no more than a relatively long-term average, since in life bone is constantly remodelled. In general, a dietary reconstruction based on bone collagen is likely to represent the average diet of that individual over the last few years of life -perhaps up to as much as ten years before death, depending on the particular bone used. An extension of the isotopic dietary method is to use the differential information available within a single skeleton to study human lifetime mobility. This technique has been developed and exploited most clearly on historic material from South Africa (Sealy et al., 1995 Sealy, 2001 Cox et al., 2001). 

Bone tissue is created from the minerals and organic molecules that entered the body through drinking water and food and the chemistry of human bone holds information on the diet and life history of the deceased individual. Both the elemental and the isotopic composition of bone are important in studies concerned with dietary reconstruction. Elemental analyses focus on the mineral portion of bone, while isotopic studies are usually aimed at the organic part. Isotopic analyses are also used to study place of origin and past climate as recorded in tooth and bone. The role of archaeological chemistry in the study of prehistoric bones is discussed in further detail in Chap. 4 on Methods, and several examples are provided in Chap. 7, Environment and Diet. 

In order to reconstruct human diet from bone tissue, direct isotopic analysis of animal and plant remains from the same archaeological context is the most reliable way to detect isotopic shifts involving the whole ecosystem due to environmental variation. Since this is often impossible for the lack of these control samples, we have explored the use of 8I80 to assess the environmentally induced variation in 8I3C and 8ISN values from collagen and apatite, and assess the dietary information they represent. This can be done assuming a scarce nutritional role of marine resources and the absence of C4 crops, as seems to be the case in the western Mediterranean and specifically in the Sardinian Neolithic and Bronze Age. 

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