Department of Archeology, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa.
Am J Phys Anthropol. 2012 Mar;147(3):499-507. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.22012. Epub 2012 Jan 23.
Stable isotope analysis of skeletal tissues is widely used in archeology and paleoanthropology to reconstruct diet. In material that is poorly preserved or very old, the tissue of choice is frequently tooth enamel, since this is less susceptible to diagenesis. The relationships between carbon isotope ratios in tooth enamel (δ(13) C(enamel) ), bone collagen (δ(13) C(collagen) ), and bone apatite (δ(13) C(bone apatite) ) are, however, not well understood. To elucidate these, we have measured all three indicators in archeological humans from the western and southern Cape coastal regions of South Africa. The correlation between δ(13) C(enamel) and δ(13) C(collagen) is good (R(2) = 0.71 if two outliers are excluded, n = 79). The correlation between δ(13) C(enamel) and δ(13) C(bone apatite) is weaker (R(2) = 0.37, n = 33) possibly due to bone diagenesis. No systematic offset between δ(13) C(bone apatite) and δ(13) C(enamel) was observed in this sample of archeological humans. Intertooth comparisons of δ(13) C(enamel) in three individuals showed little variation, despite the different ages of crown formation. Carbon isotope ratios in both enamel and bone collagen are good proxies for δ(13) C(diet) .
骨骼组织的稳定同位素分析广泛应用于考古学和古人类学，以重建饮食。在保存不佳或非常古老的材料中，通常选择牙齿珐琅质作为研究对象，因为它不易受到成岩作用的影响。然而，牙齿珐琅质（δ(13) C(enamel)）、骨胶原（δ(13) C(collagen)）和骨磷灰石（δ(13) C(bone apatite)）中的碳同位素比值之间的关系尚未得到很好的理解。为了阐明这些关系，我们对来自南非西部和南部沿海地区的考古人类进行了这三个指标的测量。δ(13) C(enamel) 和 δ(13) C(collagen)之间的相关性很好（如果排除两个异常值，n = 79，R(2) = 0.71）。δ(13) C(enamel) 和 δ(13) C(bone apatite)之间的相关性较弱（R(2) = 0.37，n = 33），可能是由于骨骼成岩作用。在这个考古人类样本中，没有观察到 δ(13) C(bone apatite)和 δ(13) C(enamel)之间的系统偏移。三个人的牙齿珐琅质的 δ(13) C(enamel) 之间的个体内比较显示出很小的变化，尽管冠形成的年龄不同。牙齿珐琅质和骨胶原中的碳同位素比值都是 δ(13) C(diet) 的良好替代物。
