ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies the impetus for, and development of, the use of dogs as proxies for humans in isotope analyses while also weighing the benefits and limitations of such analogs. We draw on our own experience of developing a dog surrogate model in collaboration with the Huron-Wendat Nation for the purpose of characterizing human diet in southern Ontario between AD 1300 and 1650. We hope that our work serves as an example of isotope-based research that engages with ethical issues surrounding the contested harm to ancestral human remains, and the rights of Indigenous peoples to determine what happens to those remains.
