ABSTRACT
Chapters 11 and 12 concentrate on ancient biomolecules: stable isotopes and DNA respectively. Biomolecular analyses require destruction of small amounts of bone or teeth. Stable isotope studies are the most widely applied biomolecular technique in osteoarchaeology. Isotope study of carbon and nitrogen can potentially tell us about ancient diets; study of strontium and oxygen isotopic data can potentially inform us about mobility of people in the past. Dietary studies have concentrated chiefly on the contribution of aquatic versus terrestrial foods and, in certain environments, the contribution of plant foods that use different photosynthetic pathways. Oxygen stable isotope ratios and strontium isotope ratios vary with climate and geology respectively, so they can potentially identify migrants from different climatic or geological zones.
