Calling all archaeologists: guidelines for terminology, methodology, data handling, and reporting when undertaking and reviewing stable isotope applications in archaeology

Roberts, Patrick; Fernandes, Ricardo; Craig, Oliver E.; Larsen, Thomas; Lucquin, Alexandre; Swift, Jillian A.; Zech, Jana

doi:10.1002/rcm.8044

Cited by 82 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Details on data handling should be fully reported with each published isotope data set. Some guidelines on reporting isotope data are available for archaeology (Szpak et al 2017;Roberts et al 2018) and forensics (Dunn et al 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Addressing data comparability in the creation of combined data sets of bioapatite carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions

et al. 2019

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Before amalgamating published isotope data, comparability should be demonstrated. This paper compares carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions of 30 enamel samples measured by two laboratories. The aims were to see what, if any, isotopic variation was observed, to determine the causes as needed and to correct if possible. Bioapatite was acidified at 90°C in 2006 and at 26°C in 2017, while δ values were corrected via one‐point normalization in 2006 and by two‐point normalization in 2017. One case (of the 30) produced different δ values between the analysis dates, suggesting contamination. Repeated carbon isotope ratio measurements were not meaningfully different. Repeated oxygen isotope ratio measurements were significantly different, even following correction for acid‐carbonate fractionation at different temperatures and the renormalization of 2017 δ values using one point; however, differences were not meaningful for interpretations. Results were used to calculate real interpretative differences (RIDs) for comparing enamel bioapatite as 0.6‰ for δ13C values and as 1.6‰ for δ18O values.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Addressing data comparability in the creation of combined data sets of bioapatite carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions

et al. 2019

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“…However, differences in CSIA methodology (e.g. derivatization protocol) can produce measurement discrepancies which are difficult to control for, given the scarcity of pairwise inter‐laboratory comparisons (Roberts et al, ). We checked that our results are robust to potential inter‐laboratory measurement discrepancies using two separate tests.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying terrestrial carbon in freshwater food webs using amino acid isotope analysis: Case study with an endemic cavefish

et al. 2019

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Flow of terrestrial carbon though aquatic ecosystems (allochthony) is an important but underestimated component of the global carbon cycle. A lack of clear consensus about the importance of allochthonous (terrestrial) organic carbon is sometimes attributed to uncertainties associated with conventional ‘bulk’ isotope data, the most widely used ecological tracer. Amino acid‐specific isotope analysis is an emerging research method promising to address existing limitations of bulk C and N isotope analyses. We tested the efficacy of amino acid δ13C data as a generalizable measure of allochthony by analysing an aggregated dataset (n = 168) of primary and secondary data of carbon sources from disparate geographical locations across the globe. We found the δ13C fingerprints amino acids to be consistently distinct between allochthonous (terrestrial) and autochthonous (aquatic) carbon sources. We also found that our approach is most effective when we use only essential amino acid tracers (i.e. isoleucine, leucine, phenylalanine, threonine and valine). Predictive trends in δ13C fingerprints appear to be largely compatible across studies and/or laboratories. As a case study, we used this approach to quantify the contribution of terrestrial carbon to an endemic cavefish, Cryptotora thamicola, and found that its biomass was comprised largely of autochthonous carbon (~75%).

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“…Thus, the δ value for the sample derived from the above equation expresses the relative difference in the isotopic ratio of the sample from that of the chosen SRM. As the differences are small, the per mil notation (‰) is used for convenience …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stable isotope measurements to differentiate sources of monofluoroacetate in a blackmail case

Hale

Schofield

Connor

et al. 2019

Rapid Comm Mass Spectrometry

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Rationale: Stable isotope ratios can provide a 'fingerprint' to enable differentiation of sources of monofluoroacetate (MFA), hence providing a means to eliminate potential sources of MFA in a blackmail case involving the contamination of milk. Methods: The stable isotopic compositions (δ 2 H, δ 13 C and δ 18 O values) of a library of 43 samples of MFA were determined and multivariate models constructed to differentiate samples of different composition. The data from the MFA library were compared with those obtained from MFA extracted from contaminated milk powder (the case samples). The isotopic composition of the extracted samples was measured on dichloroaniline derivatives.Results: A wide range of values was found for δ 2 H, δ 13 C and δ 18 O of the MFA samples, much greater than the analytical repeatability between subsamples. Stable isotope data, therefore, provide a means of distinguishing samples of MFA. Of the 43 MFA samples tested, all but 6 could be eliminated as potential sources of the contamination, i.e. they had a distinctly different isotopic composition such that they must have had different histories and/or origins. Conclusions:Stable isotope measurements of bulk and derivatized MFA provide an effective means of discriminating MFA samples. Three of the library samples that could not be differentiated from the case samples were directly connected to the suspect, and this evidence contributed to the suspect's admission of guilt.

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Calling all archaeologists: guidelines for terminology, methodology, data handling, and reporting when undertaking and reviewing stable isotope applications in archaeology

Cited by 82 publications

References 66 publications

Addressing data comparability in the creation of combined data sets of bioapatite carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions

Addressing data comparability in the creation of combined data sets of bioapatite carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions

Quantifying terrestrial carbon in freshwater food webs using amino acid isotope analysis: Case study with an endemic cavefish

Stable isotope measurements to differentiate sources of monofluoroacetate in a blackmail case

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