Creating a Quality Control Protocol for Analyzing δ18O and δ13C from Tooth Hydroxyapatite

Summary

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

Stable carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) isotope analysis of the carbonate fraction of hydroxyapatite in human tooth enamel is a well-established and powerful tool in archaeological science that researchers use to study the relationship between past human populations and their environments. δ13C analysis can provide information on the primary producer sources of dietary macromolecules (protein, lipids, and carbohydrates) that are incorporated into tissues. Whereas δ18O analysis can be used to reconstruct past temperature, water source, and mobility patterns when paired with other bioarchaeological and mortuary data. Oxygen isotopes in the phosphate and carbonate fractions of hydroxyapatite are derived from the same pool. Consequently, the δ18O values reflect the same external and internal conditions and should therefore have a linear relationship. Deviations from this relationship in archaeological tooth enamel can indicate diagenetic alteration and lead to incorrect estimates of temperature, water source, or geographic location. This study seeks to explore the range of variation in the offset of δ18O values derived from the carbonate versus the phosphate fraction of hydroxyapatite in a sample of modern human tooth enamel and dentin to establish a quality control protocol for assessing the reliability of isotope ratios derived from archaeological carbonate and phosphate.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37290.0