Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLE 15.1 Stable Isotopes of Interest to Skeletal Biologists and Their Abundances in
Nature. Extracted from
Katzenberg (2008)
and
Brown and Brown (2011)
.
Element
Isotope
Abundance in Nature
12
C
13
C
Carbon
98.93%
1.07%
1
H
2
H
Hydrogen
99.985%
0.015%
14
N
15
N
Nitrogen
99.64%
0.36%
16
O
17
O
18
O
Oxygen
99.76%
0.04%
0.20%
32
S
33
S
34
S
36
S
Sulfur
95.0%
0.76%
4.22%
0.014%
84
Sr
86
Sr
87
Sr
88
Sr
Strontium
0.56%
9.86%
7.02%
82.56%
separates plant species into three distinct groups with varying carbon isotope ratios. Specific
isotopes used in skeletal biology projects will be discussed after the following section.
RE
SEARCH DESIGN OF STABLE ISOTOPE PROJEC
TS
When initiating a stable isotope analysis project, I suggest breaking down the methodolog-
ical component of a research design into three distinct parts: (1) obtaining samples; (2)
extracting tissues from those samples; and (3) analyzing the extracted tissues on a mass
spectrometer.
Sample Procurement
Let's first discuss the issue of sample procurement. Given the focus of many skeletal biol-
ogists on research in the United States, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatria-
tion Act (NAGPRA) legislation might very well provide the first stumbling block to a project
dedicated to stable isotope analysis of human bones and teeth (see discussion in DiGangi and
Moore [Chapter 1], this volume). In other words, interested researchers should determine if
stable isotope analyses are permissible on human samples derived from archaeological
contexts in the United States. Ultimately, numerous skeletal collections in the United States
will be unavailable for stable isotope projects; therefore, researchers should take care to ascer-
tain this from the outset.
