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Childhood diet: a closer examination of the evidence from dental tissues using stable isotope analysis of incremental human dentine

Beaumont, J.; Gledhill, A.; Lee-Thorp, J.; Montgomery, J.

Authors

J. Beaumont

A. Gledhill

J. Lee-Thorp



Abstract

Incremental dentine analysis utilizes tissue that does not remodel and that permits comparison, at the same age, of those who survived infancy with those who did not at high temporal resolution. Here, we present a pilot study of teeth from a 19th-century cemetery in London, comparing the merits of two methods of obtaining dentine increments for subsequent isotope determination. Covariation in d13C and d15N values suggests that even small variations have a physiological basis. We show that high-resolution intra-dentine isotope profiles can pinpoint short-duration events such as dietary change or nutritional deprivation in the juvenile years of life.

Citation

Beaumont, J., Gledhill, A., Lee-Thorp, J., & Montgomery, J. (2013). Childhood diet: a closer examination of the evidence from dental tissues using stable isotope analysis of incremental human dentine. Archaeometry, 55(2), 277-295. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4754.2012.00682.x

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Apr 1, 2013
Deposit Date Jun 29, 2012
Journal Archaeometry
Print ISSN 0003-813X
Electronic ISSN 1475-4754
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 55
Issue 2
Pages 277-295
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4754.2012.00682.x
Keywords Famine, London, Dentine, Stable isotopes, High resolution, Carbon, Nitrogen, Juvenile.

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