Strontium (87Sr/86Sr) Isoscapes for Mobility and Migration: The Way Forward

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Intersection of Archaeological Science and Forensic Science" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Applications of 87Sr/86Sr in studies of palaeomobility and migration have developed in an interdisciplinary space at the intersection between archaeology, geochemistry and ecology. The approaches taken have depended on the home discipline of the lead researchers. Differences in approach and criteria in the many, very diverse studies now in the literature are confusing, and a barrier to potential new users. Three main areas of concern are (1) sampling, i.e. developing datasets for building isoscapes (2) mapping and modelling, or how best to synthesise 87Sr/86Sr values and associated information into isoscapes (3) interpretation, or the use of isoscapes for provenance. This talk will offer some comments on challenges such as: Which approaches are likely to be best for different applications? What are the costs and benefits of different options? How do we handle uncertainties? Some of these points may be applicable also to other isotope systems, such as lead and neodymium.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Intersection of Archaeological Science and Forensic Science   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39929.0