Significance and Limitations of Stable Oxygen Isotope Ratios in the Apatite Phosphate of Archaeological Vertebrate Finds for Provenance Analysis in an Alpine Reference Region

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8354326
AutoresMarkus Mauder (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München), Eirini Ntoutsi (0000-0001-5729-1003, Leibniz University Hannover), Peer Kröger (0000-0001-5646-3299, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München), Christoph Mayr (0000-0001-9634-9589, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg), Anita Toncala (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München), S Hölzl (RiesKraterMuseum Nördlingen Eugene‐Shoemaker‐Platz 1 D‐86720 Nördlingen Germany), Gisela Grupe (0000-0002-2731-2296, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, autor de correspondencia)
Año2019
Volumen61
Número1
Páginas194-210
Fecha de publicación2019-02-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaArchaeometry (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0003-813X • E-ISSN: 1475-4754
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/arcm.12399
OpenAlexW2800924383
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas48

A multi‐isotope fingerprint consisting of δ 18 O phosphate , 87 Sr/ 86 Sr, 208 Pb/ 204 Pb, 207 Pb/ 204 Pb, 206 Pb/ 204 Pb, 208 Pb/ 207 Pb and 206 Pb/ 207 Pb was established in the bioapatite of 219 individual archaeofaunal remains (cattle, pig, red deer) excavated from sites located along a specific transect of the European Alps, namely the Inn–Eisack–Adige–Brenner Passage, that has been of eminent importance since European prehistory. This reference area is vertically stratified, and since δ 18 O in the skeleton is influenced by climate, water source, physiology and even culture, we tested the relative contribution and importance of δ 18 O as a component of the multi‐isotope fingerprint for provenance analysis in this alpine region by a novel mathematical approach. In particular, we adapted a supervised learning approach through expectation–maximization (EM) clustering for fingerprint extraction and evaluated the contribution of each isotopic ratio to the data structure. While an altitude effect was evident in δ 18 O, its overall structural importance in the complete isotopic fingerprint was rather low. Therefore, provenance analysis of bioarchaeological finds in this region is possible by measuring stable Sr and Pb ratios alone, which is of considerable importance when δ 18 O values are not available, e.g., in cremated finds, although some information is lost. Whether this is tolerable depends on the scientific question to be solved

Apatite · Archaeology · Geochemistry · Geography · Isotope · Isotope analysis · Isotopes of oxygen · Isotopic signature · Mineralogy · Physical geography · Prehistory · Provenance · Transect · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Geology · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Isotope Analysis in Ecology · Oceanography · Paleontology