Objectives: Stable isotope values for historic period human remains from Elmina, Ghana, are compared to isotope data from 18th-and 19th-century North American sites as a test case for examining African origins and identifying first generation Africans in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States.Materials and methods: Stable carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotope values were measured in skeletal remains. Values from the cosmopolitan port city of Elmina provide the first available reference data from Africa during this time period and region.These values serve as a proxy for West African groups in general which are statistically compared to Euro-Americans and African Americans.Results: Elmina carbon isotope values are relatively higher than those of North Americans, and African Americans show greater statistical similarity to West Africans.Elmina nitrogen isotope values are higher than those of North Americans. Elmina oxygen isotope values are notably higher than those in all Mid-Atlantic North American sites in this study.Discussion: Similarity in carbon isotope values between Elmina and African Americans suggests commonalities in food availability or food preferences between these groups. Elevated nitrogen isotope values in Elmina individuals support the documented reliance of the local population on marine dietary resources at this coastal port. While carbon and nitrogen isotopes provide insight into foodways, oxygen isotope data, sourced from drinking water, provide better geographical information. The higher oxygen values from Elmina not only differentiate this group from North American Mid-Atlantic sites, but also make it possible to identify outliers at these sites as potential recent arrivals from West Africa.

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Ribot, Morris, and Renschler compare two distinct case studies of Africans in order to investigate identity, origin, and population affinity of diasporic populations. In the first case study from Cobern Street in Cape Town, South Africa, the authors integrate stable isotope data and burial data with craniometric variation. In the second case, craniometric data are studied in a sample of Africans from the Morton Collection derived from a group of enslaved people brought to Colonial Cuba. In the Cobern Street setting, they find evidence of both first and second-generation immigrants or imported slaves from sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the possible presence of people of Asian descent (either slaves or immigrants). In contrast with the Cobern Street case study, Ribot and colleagues find high levels of diversity represented in the Morton sample, with some individuals from a single origin within Central, West, or East Africa, some individuals exhibiting multiple possible African origins, and finally, some other individuals exhibiting complex patterns of heterogeneity which may reflect origins and admixture from Asia, Europe, or Mesoamerica.