Mapping Human Movement Using Stable Oxygen Isotopic Ratio Mass Spectrometry: Potential Application to Forensic Science Demonstrated by a Modern Horse-human Study

The utility of stable oxygen isotope analysis for demonstrating human migration has been developed and demonstrated on archaeological human populations. The application of this approach to tracking human movement has seldom been applied within forensic science. This paper gives results from a stable oxygen isotope assessment of extant modern human and horse enamel 18O values recovered from tooth enamel. The human and horses were all constrained to known geographic locales for the period of tooth formation and compared to UK and global precipitation values for 18O. It was found that human and horse values track one another and horse can be used with some confidence as a human proxy. UK values were constrained geographically and outlier values to the UK were identified between Iceland and the Sudan. For application within the realm of forensic science more research is required to understand the regionalized contribution of hydrology to a catchment and the potentially confounding contribution of mixed water sources. However, as a tool to track human movement within forensics there is clear utility.