Effects of Different Sample Preparation Methods on Stable Carbon and Oxygen Isotope Values of Bone Apatite: A Comparison of Two Treatment Protocols*

Abstract

Researchers have long debated the appropriateness of stable isotope analysis of bone apatite to reconstruct the diets of ancient animals. The debate has centred, in part, on diagenesis of bone mineral from interaction with the burial environment. A number of acetic acid treatments are used to remove diagenetic carbonates from samples; however, less is known on how different protocols alter stable isotope values. We compare two common acetic acid solution treatments (0.1 M versus 1.0 M‐buffered) to examine the effects on carbon and oxygen isotope values and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra in human bone from different burial contexts. Results indicate that both treatments have a similar effect on isotope values and FTIR spectra in bone apatite.

Examining Childhood Diets at Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala, Through Stable Isotopic Analysis of Sequential Enamel Microsamples*

“…1997; Lee‐Thorp and Sponheimer 2003; Garvie‐Lok et al . 2004; Yoder and Bartelink 2010), and underscore variability in context‐specific depositional histories. For Mesoamerica, ‘local’δ 18 O signals have been defined on the basis of fairly small numbers of skeletons, or arbitrary 2‰ ranges, and by necessity are compared to data at other sites that were obtained from both carbonate or phosphate measurements of bone or enamel, and without consideration of treatment protocol (e.g., White et al .…”

Assessing bone transformation in late Miocene and Plio‐Pleistocene deposits of Kenya and South Africa

“…The effects of acetic acid on the structure and stable isotope composition of bioapatites are thus of importance to palaeoenvironmental reconstructions and have been widely discussed along with other pretreatments (e.g., Lee‐Thorp and van der Merwe ; Garvie‐Lok et al . ; Yoder and Bartelink ; Snoeck and Pellegrini ). Overall these studies show that acetic acid treatment leads to an increase in crystallinity (IRSF) and a decrease in carbonate content and partially dissolves the mineral fraction of modern and archaeological bioapatites (Snoeck and Pellegrini ).…”

Provisioning Inka feasts at Tiwanaku, Bolivia: the geographic origins of camelids in the Pumapunku complex

“…Bowen and Wilkinson, 2002;Bryant and Froelich, 1996;Craig, 1961a;Fricke, et al, 1995;Ghosh et al, 2006;Gonfiantini et al, 2001;Koch, 1998;Kohn et al, 1998;Levinson et al, 1987;Longinelli, 1984;Luz and Kolodny, 1985;Luz et al, 1984;Sponheimer and Lee-Thorp, 1999;Stuart-Williams and Schwarcz, 1997;White et al, 2004a). Although variation in stable oxygen isotope values in meteoric water (d 18 O mw ) is well-established, stable oxygen isotope analysis in archeology can be complicated by movement and treatment of water in the past (Knudson, 2009) as well as sample pretreatment (e.g., Munro, et al, 2008;Weidemann-Bidlack et al, 2008;Yoder and Bartelink, 2010). Despite these issues, stable oxygen isotope analysis has been used to investigate archaeological paleomobility in a number of different regions (e.g., Prowse et al, 2007;Turner et al, 2009;White et al, 2007, White et al, 2004b.…”