Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes of human dental calculus: a potentially new non-destructive proxy for paleodietary analysis
نویسندگان
چکیده
Fifty-eight dental calculus samples from medieval and post-medieval skeletons from Vitoria, Spain, and a single sample from an Alaskan Inuit were tested for stable carbon and nitrogen isotope compositions. There was sufficient carbon and nitrogen concentrations to obtain d13C and d15N values, and the samples from Spain produced results that were replicable and comparable to European isotope values based on bone collagen collected from literature sources. The Alaskan Inuit calculus sample yielded a d15N value of þ17.5&, well beyond the range of the Spanish samples, but consistent with literature data for modern Greenlandic Inuit consuming a diet rich in marine food. There are several potential sources for carbon and nitrogen in calculus. The results of this study yield stable isotope values consistent with those obtained from other biomaterials used as isotope proxies for paleodietary research, including bone collagen, hair, and fingernails, although further work is necessary to verify the fidelity of calculus as an isotope proxy. Many studies in bioarchaeology are precluded by curatorial concerns regarding the destructive analysis of primary biomaterials. However, calculus is an “add-on”, or secondary biomaterial, that is not an integral part of the dental or skeletal system. Hence, its consumption during analysis is technically not destructive. Therefore, isotope analysis of dental calculus may provide a potential new avenue for paleodietary analysis where the use of other primary biomaterials is precluded. 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
منابع مشابه
Stable Isotope Application in Animal Nutrition Science
The application of stable isotope analysis (SIA) has become a standard scientific approach in Agricultural and Ecological researches and, more in general, in several disciplines such as biology, botany, zoology, organic chemistry, climatology, and nutrition. The main objectives of this paper are (1) to provide a simple definition of stable isotopes and (2) to illustrate analytical measurement m...
متن کاملBone Chemistry and Paleodiet: Reconstructing Prehistoric Subsistence-Settlement Systems in Australia
This article reviews the results of bone collagen stable carbon and nitrogen isotope paleodietary studies conducted in Australia. Stable isotopic analyses of prehistoric human and faunal bones and teeth provide a means to assess past Aboriginal dietary patterns and habitat use, palaeoclimate, and palaeoecology. In some cases, the relative consumption of marine versus terrestrial foods or use of...
متن کاملAncient Diet Reconstruction: A Case Study of Sidon, Lebanon
The present work is associated with dietary reconstruction using δ13C and δ15N analysis of humans from the site of Sidon, a Middle Bronze Age (2000BC-1550BC) settlement in Lebanon. The main objective of this research is to focus on collagen extraction of 23 individual bones, discovered in a cemetery, College site (season 2001-2002) in ancient Sidon. Collagen could only be extracted from the 8 a...
متن کاملAssessing Raman Spectroscopy as a Prescreening Tool for the Selection of Archaeological Bone for Stable Isotopic Analysis
Stable isotope analyses for paleodiet investigations require good preservation of bone protein, the collagen, to obtain reliable stable isotope values. Burial environments cause diagenetic alterations to collagen, especially in the leaching of the organic bone content. The survival of bone protein may be assessed by the weight % collagen, % carbon and % nitrogen yields, but these values are ach...
متن کاملBeyond diet reconstruction: stable isotope applications to human physiology, health, and nutrition.
Analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes from soft or mineralized tissues is a direct and widely-used technique for modeling diets. In addition to its continued role in paleodiet analysis, stable isotope analysis is now contributing to studies of physiology, disease, and nutrition in archaeological and living human populations. In humans and other animals, dietary uptake and distribution...
متن کامل