Technical note: Interpreting stable carbon isotopes in human tooth enamel: An examination of tissue spacings from South Africa

1/25/2012

Abstract

Stable isotope analysis of skeletal tissues is widely used in archeology and paleoanthropology to reconstruct diet. In material that is poorly preserved or very old, the tissue of choice is frequently tooth enamel, since this is less susceptible to diagenesis. The relationships between carbon isotope ratios in tooth enamel, bone collagen, and bone apatite are, however, not well understood. To elucidate these, we have measured all three indicators in archeological humans from the western and southern Cape coastal regions of South Africa. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

– by Emma Loftus and Judith Sealy

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