Title:
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Lead and strontium isotope compositions of human dental tissues as an indicator of ancient exposure and population dynamics
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Abstract: This thesis employs lead and strontium isotope analysis of teeth by TIMS to
identify migrants amongst British archaeological cemetery populations since the
Neolithic. The study evaluates the benefits of combining two independent isotope
systems with the exposure information obtained from elemental concentrations of lead
and strontium. It demonstrates that they provide complementary information about
mobility but highlights how their efficacy fluctuates both spatially and temporally in
the periods investigated. Strontium was useful in all periods but heavily biased towards
maritime 87Sr/86Sr (~O.7092) making it a poor discriminant between coastal habitats
where lead was superior. Lead utility changes following the advent of large-scale
mining and metallurgy, when anthropogenic ore lead severs the link between
geographical origin and lead exposure. A cultural focussing of British enamel
signatures ensues accompanied by a concomitant rise in lead burdens. British lead
exposure during the last two millennia appears more indicative of status and the
cultural sphere (e.g. rural/urban) than geographical origin. The results are assessed in
the light of migration theory and traditional archaeological and osteological indicators.
Samples used are core enamel and co-genetic primary crown dentine, which
neither model nor remodel in vivo and thus remain representative of a constrained
period of childhood. Modem and archaeological teeth are investigated to assess isotope
variability intra-enamel, intra-tissue, intra-antimere, intra-dentition, intra-sibling and
between mother/child pairs. Recommendations for future tissue sampling and
standardisation are made. The fundamentals of tooth biomineralisation are reviewed
and clarified, chiefly that incremental enamel structures relate to initial formation not
mineralisation; lead and strontium are principally incorporated during mineralisation.
Macromorphological preservation proved no guide to biogenic strontium or lead
isotope integrity. Mature, but not immature, enamel proved highly resistant to
diagenesis whether well preserved or not. Dentine was highly susceptible to diagenesis
irrespective of preservation state and is proposed as a proxy for the time averaged
isotope signature of the soil. Moreover, it is argued that lead and strontium behave
differently in teeth; uptake mechanisms are different and they respond independently to
subsequent migration. Results suggest soil leaches were useful but complex and the
most suitable leach reagent may be specific to the soil type and isotope system.
Two Norse Period immigrants (male and female) were identified at Cnip,
Lewis; the the 87Sr/86Sr signatures constrain their origin to Tertiary volcanics. In the North
Atlantic these occur on Iceland, Faeroe Isles, and Antrim in Ireland but not Norway. No
indubitable immigrants were identified at the Anglian cemetery at West Heslerton,
Yorkshire but soil leaches and juveniles suggested a local 87 Sr/86Sr signature range.
"Non-locals" included both sexes, weapon burials and unaccompanied burials,
providing no evidence for an immigrant group composed solely of male warriors. All
analysed burials with wristclasps and cruciform brooches were non-local, supporting
Hines' (1984) hypothesis that wristclasps confirm the presence of Norwegian
immigrants during this period.
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