Stable isotope analysis

Stable Isotope Analysis, Bone Organic Fraction... 

Katzenberg, M.A. 1992 Advances in stable isotope analysis of prehistoric bones. In Saunders, S.R. and Katzenberg, M.A., eds.. The Skeletal Biology of Past Peoples Research Methods. New York, Wiley-Liss 105-120. 

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. 

Hobson, K.A. 1990 Stable isotope analysis of marbled murrelets evidence for fieshwater feeding and determination of trophic level. Condor 92 897-903. 

Katzenberg, M.A. 1989 Stable isotope analysis of archaeological faunal remains from Southern Ontario. Journal of Archaeological Science 16 319-329. 

Loader, N.J., Switsur, V.R. and Field, E.M. 1995 High-resolution stable isotope analysis of tree rings implications of microdendroclimatology for palaeoenvironmental research. The Holocene 5 457-460. 

Prospects for stable isotopic analysis of Later Pleistocene honiinid diets in West Asia... 

Ambrose, S.H. 1998 Prospects for stable isotopic analysis of Later Pleistocene hominid diets in West Asia and Europe. In Akazawa, T., Aoki, K. and Bar-Yosef, O., eds.. Neanderthals and Modem Humans in West Asia. New York, Plenum Press 277-289. 

Two alternate methods have recently been developed and both are used in the present study. A laser probe analytical method provided the majority of the oxygen isotope data (see Kohn et al. 1996 for details on testing and developing the method). Laser probes were originally developed for the stable isotope analysis of silicates, oxides, and sulfides in ciystalline rocks (Crowe... 

NOTE ADDED IN PROOF This manuscript had been submitted shortly after the presentation of the paper at the Fourth Advanced Seminar on Pale-odiet, 1994. Ongoing research, especially stable isotope analysis of single amino acids from inoculated and non-inoculated marten bones (same specimens as in this paper) further and strongly support our conclusion that bacterial modifica-tion causes substantial shifts in collagen stable isotope ratios (Balzer et fl/. 1997). 

Cannon, A., Schwatcz, H.P. and Knyf, M. 1999 Marine-based subsistence trends and the stable-isotope analysis of dog bones from Namu, British Columbia. Journal of Archaeological Science 26 399-407. 

Balzer, A., Gleixner, G., Grupe, G., Schmidt, H.-L., Schramm, S., Turban-Just, S. (1997). In vitro decomposition of bone collagen by soil bacteria the implications for stable isotope analysis in archaeometry. Archaeometry 39 (2), 415-429. 

Hunkeler D, R Aravena, K Berry-Spark, E Cox (2005) Assessment of degradation pathways in an aquifer with mixed chlorinated hydrocarbon contamination using stable isotope analysis. Environ Sci Technol 39 5975-5981. 

Rowe PJ, Maher BA (2000) Cold stage formation of calcrete nodnles in the Chinese Loess Plateau evidence from U-series dating and stable isotope analysis. Palaeogeogr Palaeochmatol Palaeoecol 157 109-125... 

Katzenberg, M. A. (2000), Stable isotope analysis A tool for studying past diet, demography and life history, in Katzenberg, M. A. and S. R. Saunders (eds.), Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton, Wiley-Liss, New York, pp. 305-328. 

Katzenberg, M. A. (1988), Stable isotope analysis of animal bone and the reconstruction of human palaeodiet, in Kennedy, B. and G. Le Moine (eds.), Diet and Subsistence, Current Archaeological Perspectives, Univ. Calgary, pp. 307-324. 

Schwarcz, H. P. and M. J. Schoeninger (1991), Stable isotope analysis in human nutritional ecology, Yearbook Phys. Anthropol. 34, 283-321. 

Tykot, R. H. (2002b), Contribution of Stable Isotope Analysis to Understanding Dietary Variation among the Maya, in Jakes, K. (ed.), Archaeological Chemistry, Vol. 6, Materials, Methods and Meaning, Advances in Chemistry Series, ACS, Washington, DC, pp. 214-230. 

Walker, S. and K. Matthews (1988), Recent work in stable isotope analysis of white marble at the British Museum, in Fant, J. C. (ed.), Ancient Marble Quarrying and Trade, B.A.R., International Series, Vol. 453, Oxford, UK, pp. 117-125. 

The aims of this contribution are to (i) consider the theoretical principles underlying the use of compound-specific stable isotope analysis in archaeology (ii) consider the practical aspects of undertaking compound-specific stable isotope analyses and (iii) demonstrate the value of linking the structures of amino acids, fatty acids and/or sterols, to their compound-specific stable isotope values to achieve new insights into variations in metabolism and environment in order to enhance archaeological interpretations. 

Figure 14.5 Schematic diagram of instrumental variants of stable isotope analysis providing either bulk or compound specific stable isotope values...

Figure 14.6 Generalised analytical protocol for the compound specific stable isotope analysis of free and building block components of complex archaeological materials...

Derivatisations for Compound-specific Stable Isotope Analysis... 

GC-C-IRMS instrumentation enables the compound-specific isotope analysis of individual organic compounds, for example, n-alkanes, fatty acids, sterols and amino acids, extracted and purified from bulk organic materials. The principle caveat of compound-specific work is the requirement for chemical modification, or derivatisation, of compounds containing polar functional groups primarily to enhance their volatility prior to introduction to the GC-C-IRMS instrument. Figure 14.7 summarises the most commonly employed procedures for derivatisation of polar, nonvolatile compounds for compound-specific stable isotope analysis using GC-C-IRMS. 

GC-C-IRMS enables amino acids to be separated by GC, combusted on-line, for stable isotopic analysis thereby avoiding manual preparative steps (see Figures 14.5, 14.8 and 14.9). The 513C values of individual collagen amino acids are highly robust and by... 

Macko, S. A., Ryan, M. and Engel, M. H. (1998) Stable isotopic analysis of individual carbohydrates by gas chromatographic combustion/isotope ratio mass spectrometry. Chemical Geology 152,205 210. 

Morton, J. D. and Schwarcz, H. P. (1988) Stable isotope analysis of food residues from Ontario ceramics In 26th International Archaeometry Symposium, Toronto (Ed. Farquarhar, R.), University of Toronto, Toronto, pp. 89 93. 

Reber, E. A., Dudd, S. N., van der Merwe, N. J. and Evershed, R. P. (2004) Direct detection of maize processing in archaeological pottery through compound specific stable isotope analysis of n dotriacontanol in absorbed organic residues. Antiquity 78, 682 691. 

Richards, M. P., Greer, S., Corr, L. T., Beattie, O., Mackie, A., Evershed, R. P., von Finster, A. and Southon, J. (2007) Radiocarbon dating and dietary stable isotope analysis of Kwaday Dan Ts inchf. American Antiquity 72,719 733. 

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