Technical note
Interpreting stable carbon isotopes in human tooth enamel: An examination of tissue spacings from South Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8313353 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Emma Loftus (0000-0003-4442-8511, University of Cape Town), Judith Sealy (0000-0001-5071-8211, University of Cape Town, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 147 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 499-507 |
| Publication date | 2012-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Physical Anthropology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-9483 • E-ISSN: 1096-8644 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/ajpa.22012 |
| PMID | 22270879 |
| OpenAlex | W1975608533 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 32 |
| References cited | 40 |
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 (δ 13 C enamel ), bone collagen (δ 13 C collagen ), and bone apatite (δ 13 C 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. The correlation between δ 13 C enamel and δ 13 C collagen is good ( R 2 = 0.71 if two outliers are excluded, n = 79). The correlation between δ 13 C enamel and δ 13 C bone apatite is weaker ( R 2 = 0.37, n = 33) possibly due to bone diagenesis. No systematic offset between δ 13 C bone apatite and δ 13 C enamel was observed in this sample of archeological humans. Intertooth comparisons of δ 13 C enamel in three individuals showed little variation, despite the different ages of crown formation. Carbon isotope ratios in both enamel and bone collagen are good proxies for δ 13 C diet . Am J Phys Anthropol, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc
Amelogenin · Apatite · Diagenesis · Enamel paint · Isotope · Mineralogy · Stable isotope ratio · Tooth enamel · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Chemistry · Dentistry · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Geology · Isotope Analysis in Ecology · Medicine
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| Unique citing works | 32 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,46 |
| Citation span | 2013 - 2025 (13) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 32 |