A Multiscalar Approach to Mobility: Interpreting Sulfur Isotope Values within Relative and Absolute Chronological Frameworks

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In the past 10 years sulfur isotope analysis (δ34S) has become increasingly employed to investigate the movement and mobility of prehistoric people and animals. While the questions can focus on the same type of “one-off” movements often considered when using strontium and oxygen analyses to study human migrations or pastoral economies, the combination of sulfur analyses with different sampling approaches can yield novel insights into past movement of individuals and populations. This paper discusses some of the ways archaeologists can incorporate sulfur isotope analysis with radiocarbon chronologies, the relative dating associated with sampling skeletal elements that represent different times in an individual’s life, and even sequential sampling within an individual skeletal element. These approaches will be illustrated using data from both human and animal populations from Middle Iron Age (~400–200 cal BC) sites in southern Britain.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35783.0