What's in a bone? Recent advances in archaeological bone chemistry

This paper focuses on advances in archaeological bone chemistry since 1989. At that time studies generally shifted from development and application of techniques in bone chemistry to more experimental approaches. In stable isotope studies, controlled feeding experiments have been carried out to determine the routing of various dietary components into bone tissues. Biological apatite has been added to collagen as a tissue of study for stable carbon isotope analysis, providing the ability to study much older remains. Other elements have been added such as hydrogen for the study of paleoclimate and oxygen and strontium isotopes to study life history. Trace element studies have focused on methods of detecting and controlling for diagenesis, and barium has been added to the list of useful dietary indicators. Attempts to extract DNA from archaeological bone have been successful, however, this field is still in its early stages in terms of applications to understanding prehistoric biological relationships.     

Carbon isotope measurement techniques for bone collagen: Notes for the archaeologist

Stable carbon isotope analysis of archaeological human bone collagen is becoming increasingly useful in diet reconstructions. This paper describes, for archaeologists, the techniques that we have found useful in carrying out such analyses, and discusses the requirements for measurement accuracy and inter-laboratory calibration.     

Bone chemistry and paleodiet

Bone chemistry paleodietary studies are emerging as important research areas in archaeology, biological anthropology, and paleontology. With appropriate controls, the inorganic and organic chemical composition of bones and teeth can provide information about past diet and habitat use. Chemical signatures are used to address individual dietary variability in early hominid fossils, paleontological remains, and more recent human and faunal populations.     

Weaning patterns are reflected in strontium-calcium ratios of juvenile skeletons

As human milk is exceptionally low in strontium-calcium ($\text{Sr}\text{Ca}$) ratios, but solid foods are relatively high, it should be possible to examine the pattern of dietary supplementation and the age of weaning in prehistoric groups by reference to the $\text{Sr}\text{Ca}$ ratios of juvenile skeletons. The data are presented that support this rationale, along with an investigation of the Sr/Ca values of juvenile and adult skeletons from a medieval Arab graveyard. The $\text{Sr}\text{Ca}$ data from these skeletons are shown to coincide with the age-curves expected in theory, suggesting that new palaeodemographic information is indeed obtainable from $\text{Sr}\text{Ca}$ studies. However, until further research is conducted, the technique provides a functional estimate of weaning patterns that is only suitable for comparative purposes. Additional research should clarify the relationship of functional to actual estimates of dietary supplementation and weaning.     

山东日照市两城镇遗址龙山文化先民食谱的稳定同位素分析

山东日照两城镇遗址出土的浮选植物标本和植桂体表明,稻米和粟是该遗址龙山先民重要的食物来源,但由于动物骨骼保存很差,我们对他们的肉食来源所知甚少。而采用碳氮稳定同位素法探讨古人的食性和食物结构,对各种同位素含量不同的食物在当时人们食谱中的相对重要性提供了补充定量的数据。     

上海松江区广富林遗址良渚时期人骨微量元素的初步研究

近几十年来,古代人群的食谱研究已经成为现代科技考古学的一个重要组成部分,也是当前国际科技考古学研究领域的一项前沿性课题。人类骨骼的化学元素分析为重建古代居民的食谱提供了大量信息。采用电感耦合等离子发射光谱仪(ICP-AES)对上海松江区广富林遗址良渚时期出土人骨中的Ba、Ca、Mg、Mn、P、Sr、Zn等7种化学元素测定的结果显示:发达的稻作业为该组居民提供了充足的植物性食物;而水网密集的周边环境同时又为该时期居民提供了丰富水产品,从而极大地补充了其蛋白质的摄入。     

Migration and Viking Dublin: paleomobility and paleodiet through isotopic analyses

During the early medieval period in Ireland, Dublin was established as the largest Viking settlement on the island in the ninth century AD. A previous biodistance study has suggested that the population of the town consisted of a polyethnic amalgam of immigrant and indigenous. In this study, we use biogeochemistry to investigate paleomobility and paleodiet in archeological human remains from the ninth to eleventh century levels at the sites at Fishamble Street II (National Museum of Ireland excavation number E172), Fishamble Street III (E190) and John’s Lane (E173), as well as twelfth-century remains from Wood Quay (E132). Through radiogenic strontium isotope, stable oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen isotope, and elemental concentration analyses, we investigate the origins of the individuals who lived and died in early and late Viking Dublin. Mean archaeological human enamel and bone isotope values from Dublin are ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.70975 ± 0.00139 (2σ, n = 22), δ¹³C_{carbonate(V-PDB)} = −14.8‰ ± 0.8‰ (1σ, n = 12), and δ¹⁸O_{carbonate(V-PDB)} = −7.2‰ ± 1.0‰ (1σ, n = 12). Archaeological human bone samples exhibit mean δ¹³C_{collagen(V-PDB)} = −20.8‰ ± 0.5‰ (1σ, n = 12) and mean δ¹⁵N_{collagen(AIR)} = +10.0‰ ± 1.7‰ (1σ, n = 12). Comparing these data with archaeological faunal data from Dublin and published data from northern Europe, we argue that there are no clear immigrants from other parts of the North Atlantic, although there is one clear outlier in both origins and diet. Overall, the relative homogeneity in both paleomobility and paleodiet may support models of acculturation in Viking Dublin, rather than a high number of first-generation immigrants or continued migration from Scandinavia.     

古食谱与微量元素分析

近年来 ,古食谱研究已成为考古学研究中一个重要的领域。人体骨骼中微量元素已经广泛地应用为重建古代食物结构、生存方法、经济生活变化的指示剂。加以合理的研究设计 ,微量元素的分析能为我们研究过去生活方式和社会制度提供重要的资料。     

Investigating Identity and Life Histories: Isotopic Analysis and Historical Documentation of Slave Skeletons Found on the Cape Town Foreshore, South Africa

Isotopic analysis of skeletons excavated during the 1950s has confirmed that they are the remains of shipwreck victims: slaves on board the Portuguese slaving brig Pacquet Real when it sank on 18 May 1818. Twenty-five slaves drowned and the remaining 133 became Prize Negroes at the Cape. The isotopic signatures are consistent with values expected for people living in an African village eating a terrestrially based diet. Analyses of different skeletal elements, i.e., teeth, long bone, and rib, are shown to be a valuable tool in tracing change or consistency in diet during a person's life, because different skeletal elements form at different stages of life and, subsequently, remodel at different rates. A comparison of isotope ratios from different skeletal elements indicates a change in diet in all these individuals, probably coincident with their enslavement. Variation between individuals in the isotopic composition of diets eaten early in life is sufficiently large to deduce heterogeneous origins for the group.     

Source of ore fluids at the Kalahari Goldridge deposit, Kraaipan greenstone belt, South Africa: evidence from Sr, C and O isotope signatures in carbonates

The Kalahari Goldridge deposit is located in the Archaean Kraaipan greenstone belt in the north-west province of South Africa. Gold mineralization in this deposit is hosted within banded iron formation which is flanked by a mafic schist in the footwall and clastic metasedimentary units in the hanging wall. Data from carbonate minerals from mineralized veins and bulk rock from the A and D zone ore bodies have helped to define the ultimate origin of the ore-forming fluids and their migration history. Carbon isotope ratios of carbonates from both the A and D zone ore bodies have tight clustering from −7.6 to −5.3‰ that indicates a unique origin for the ore-forming fluids associated with the mineralization at Kalahari Goldridge. The δ¹⁸O values of the carbonates have been influenced by temperature gradients and variable degrees of fluid–rock interaction promoting oxygen isotope exchange between ore fluid and host rocks. Minimum ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio values of 0.70354 in mineralized veins are most consistent with ore-forming fluids being relatively pristine with a mantle origin. Strontium and the corresponding ore-forming fluids were most likely derived from mantle-derived magmatic rocks probably represented by the meta-basaltic rocks that underlie the ferruginous package in the Kraaipan greenstone belt. Strontium isotopic composition of vein carbonates show considerable variation in ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios ranging from 0.70354 to 0.73914. This is consistent with an ore fluid composition that has been modified by the addition of radiogenic Sr possibly during passage of fluid through siliciclastic country rock concomitant with the observed hydrothermal alteration.     

Bone chemistry and the reconstruction of diet: Strontium discrimination in white-tailed deer

Studies of the relationship between the strontium content of human bone and past diet are still in an experimental stage. Because of the low frequency of carnivore remains at most archaeological sites and the absence of information on local strontium levels, it has been difficult to (1) estimate dietary intake for a prehistoric population, and (2) to compare prehistoric populations from spatially disparate areas. However, examination of strontium/calcium ratios in a modern herbivore may help to alleviate these problems. Bones from modern white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) were compared with deer diet in Wisconsin. An observed ratio between deer bone and diet in terms of a strontium/calcium index was calculated at 0204, which compares favourably with observed ratios reported for other mammals. Prehistoric white-tailed deer are used in the analysis of two Late Archaic sites in the midwestern U.S.A. The strontium levels in deer can be used as a baseline for comparison between sites. The prehistoric subsistence patterns are generally comparable, with hunting accounting for the bulk of the diet.