Bone chemistry and prehistoric diet: strontium studies of laboratory rats.

Strontium analysis of prehistoric human bone for the reconstruction of past diets is a relatively new technique in anthropology. In order to evaluate certain assumptions of the method, diets with low and high levels of strontium were fed to male, virgin female, and pregnant female laboratory rats. Analysis of the femurs of these rats by inductively coupled plasma/atomic emission spectrometry indicates that dietary intake is directly reflected in levels of strontium in bone ash. When dietary strontium levels were low, the observed ratio for bone:diet in the laboratory rats averaged 0.26, a value similar to that observed by other investigators. Among the groups fed high levels of strontium, pregnant females accumulated the most and virgin females accumulated the least strontium in bone. Males were intermediate. Gender differences in bone strontium among prehistoric human populations are considered in these terms.