Oxygen isotope fractionation between human phosphate and water revisited

Abstract

The oxygen isotope composition of human phosphatic tissues (delta18OP) has great potential for reconstructing climate and population migration, but this technique has not been applied to early human evolution. To facilitate this application we analyzed delta18OP values of modern human teeth collected at 12 sites located at latitudes ranging from 4 degrees N to 70 degrees N together with the corresponding oxygen composition of tap waters (delta18OW) from these areas. In addition, the delta18O of some raw and boiled foods were determined and simple mass balance calculations were performed to investigate the impact of solid food consumption on the oxygen isotope composition of the total ingested water (drinking water+solid food water). The results, along with those from three, smaller published data sets, can be considered as random estimates of a unique delta18OW/delta18OP linear relationship: delta18OW=1.54(+/-0.09)xdelta18OP-33.72(+/-1.51)(R2=0.87: p [H0:R2=0]=2x10(-19)). The delta18O of cooked food is higher than that of the drinking water. As a consequence, in a modern diet the delta18O of ingested water is +1.05 to 1.2 per thousand higher than that of drinking water in the area. In meat-dominated and cereal-free diets, which may have been the diets of some of our early ancestors, the shift is a little higher and the application of the regression equation would slightly overestimate delta18OW in these cases.

Land use and mobility during the Neolithic in Wales explored using isotope analysis of tooth enamel

“…189–190). The use of oxygen isotope analysis for geographic provenancing of human individuals is based on the premise that, although there is some contribution from respiratory oxygen and chemically‐bound oxygen in food, a significant component of the δ 18 O values in mammalian bioapatite derives from ingested fluids which can therefore reflect values in drinking water (e.g., Daux et al, 2008, pp. 1146; Levinson, Luz, & Kolodny, 1987; Longinelli, 1984; Luz, Kolodny, & Horowitz, 1984; Luz & Kolodny, 1985; Kirsanow & Tuross, 2011; Podlesak et al, 2008).…”

Going south of the river: A multidisciplinary analysis of ancestry, mobility and diet in a population from Roman Southwark, London

“…Variations in δ 18 O in human tooth enamel are primarily a reflection of variations in the composition of water in the childhood diet (Daux, et al, 2008). In the past, drinking water and other dietary water in foodstuffs would have derived primarily from local water sources.…”

“…Thus, it is possible to correlate measurements on archaeological remains with the modern maps. However, the δ 18 O of the phosphate of tooth enamel is systematically altered from dietary water by metabolic processes, and a calibration is required to convert to drinking water δ 18 O (Daux, et al, 2008), which introduces uncertainty in the reconstructed drinking water values (Pollard, et al, 2011b). Other processes can also alter human δ 18 O.…”

Oxygen stable isotopes variation in water precipitation in Poland – anthropological applications

“…Thanks to the information on the isotope composition of oxygen in local environmental water at a specific archaeological site, and with the use of specially designed regression formulas (Daux et al 2008), we may calculate δ 18 O p reference range for the human population which potentially inhabited the area. Comparing oxygen isotope composition values for human skeletons to reference background enables us to identify individuals of non-local origin.…”

“…Concentration of stable oxygen isotopes in body water depends mostly on the isotope composition of drinking water, which, in a lesser extent on water contained in food and atmospheric oxygen, constitutes a source of oxygen that becomes ultimately incorporated into tissues (Bryant and Froelich 1995;Daux et al 2008). The isotope composition of oxygen in bone phosphates (δ 18 O p ) becomes fixed as the balance between water ingested and excreted from the organism (Bryant and Froelich 1995;Kohn 1996).…”