Determining the 'local' 87Sr/86Sr range for archaeological skeletons:: a case study from Neolithic Europe

Measurement of strontium isotopes in archaeological skeletons is an effective technique for characterizing prehistoric mobility. However, interpretation of the results can be highly sensitive to small changes in the determined 'local' Sr-87/Sr-86 signature at an archaeological site. Because the local range is often defined as within 2 s.d. from the mean Sr-87/Sr-86 value in archaeological human bones, the susceptibility of bones to diagenesis may lead to significant overestimates in the number of 'non-locals' at a particular site. Tooth enamel, on the other hand, is highly resistant to postmortem biochemical alteration, and it is found that Sr-87/Sr-86 in archaeological enamel samples from animals of Neolithic Germany provide a useful alternative estimate for the local range. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.