scholarly journals Reconstructing the lifetime movements of ancient people: A Neolithic case study from southern England

2000 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 370-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Montgomery ◽  
Paul Budd ◽  
Jane Evans
Keyword(s):  
Adult Female ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Strontium Isotope ◽  
Strontium Isotope Analysis ◽  
North West ◽  
Dental Tissues ◽  
The North ◽  
Ancient People ◽  
Place Of Origin

A new procedure is described in which combined lead and strontium isotope analysis of archaeological human dental tissues can be used to comment on the lifetime movements of individuals. A case study is presented of four Neolithic burials – an adult female and three juveniles – from a shared burial pit excavated at Monkton-up-Wimbourne, Dorset. It is demonstrated that the adult's place of origin was at least 80km to the north-west in the area of the Mendips. It is also shown that all three juveniles moved over significant distances during their lives.

The first settlers of Iceland: an isotopic approach to colonisation

Antiquity ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 80 (307) ◽  
pp. 130-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Douglas Price ◽  
Hildur Gestsdóttir
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Strontium Isotope ◽  
The West ◽  
Strontium Isotope Analysis ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
European Populations

The colonisation of the North Atlantic from the eighth century AD was the earliest expansion of European populations to the west. Norse and Celtic voyagers are recorded as reaching and settling in Iceland, Greenland and easternmost North America betweenc. AD 750 and 1000, but the date of these events and the homeland of the colonists are subjects of some debate. In this project, the birthplaces of 90 early burials from Iceland were sought using strontium isotope analysis. At least nine, and probably thirteen, of these individuals can be distinguished as migrants to Iceland from other places. In addition, there are clear differences to be seen in the diets of the local Icelandic peoples, ranging from largely terrestrial to largely marine consumption.

scholarly journals Initial Assessment of Bioavailable Strontium at Oldupai Gorge, Tanzania: Potential for Early Mobility Studies

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Tucker ◽  
Julien Favreau ◽  
Makarius Itambu ◽  
Fergus Larter ◽  
Neduvoto Mollel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Acetic Acid ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Strontium Isotope ◽  
Initial Assessment ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Early Mobility ◽  
Strontium Isotope Analysis ◽  
The North ◽  
Mobility Studies ◽  
And Migration

Strontium isotope analysis is a useful tool for tracing mobility and migration in past populations. For it to be employed, the 87Sr/86Sr values of the landscape must be well-understood. Bioavailable strontium is a combination of geological and atmospheric strontium available for use by plants and animals. In this study we begin mapping bioavailable strontium values around the Oldupai Gorge region so that this method may be utilized on archaeological hominins and animals in the future. We analyzed three plants from 33 localities across volcanic and metamorphic bedrock, including the regional drainage sump, Olbalbal. We found that bioavailable strontium in the region is homogeneous overall, with trends towards increasing values to the north and northeast and in Olbalbal. There was no difference between 87Sr/86Sr values of metamorphic and volcanic areas. Migrants from outside the study area with different isotopic values will be easily identifiable from the local residents.As a proof of concept, we analyzed 7 animal teeth (hippopotamus, crocodile, and equid) from Engaji Nanyori, a Bed III and IV site at Oldupai Gorge. We found that enamel and dentine which had been acetic acid treated to remove diagenetic strontium were significantly different from one another. All animals had higher 87Sr/86Sr values than the plant values, suggesting that modern and ancient bioavailable strontium values may have been different, likely due to environmental differences.

Kerbside collection: A case study from the north-west of England

2007 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 381-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.D.H. Wilson ◽  
I.D. Williams
Keyword(s):  
North West ◽  
The North

The use of high-resolution stratigraphy and derived lithoclasts to document structural inversion; a case study from the Paleogene, Isle of Wight, U.K.

2021 ◽  
pp. jgs2020-156
Author(s):  
Andy Gale
Keyword(s):  
The West ◽  
North West ◽  
Geologic Time ◽  
Northern Limb ◽  
The North ◽  
Basement Faults ◽  
Structural Inversion ◽  
Geologic Time Scale ◽  
Radiometric Ages

The effects of structural inversion, generated by the Pyrenean Orogeny on the southerly bounding faults of the Hampshire Basin (Needles and Sandown Faults) on Eocene sedimentation in the adjacent regions were studied in outcrops by sedimentary logging, dip records and the identification of lithoclasts reworked from the crests of anticlines generated during inversion. The duration and precise age of hiatuses associated with inversion was identified using bio- and magnetostratigraphy, in comparison with the Geologic Time Scale 2020. The succession on the northern limb of the Sandown Anticline (Whitecliff Bay) includes five hiatuses of varying durations which together formed a progressive unconformity developed during the Lutetian to Priabonian interval (35-47Ma). Syn-inversion deposits thicken southwards towards the southern margin of the Hampshire Basin and are erosionally truncated by unconformities. The effects of each pulse of inversion are recorded by successively shallower dips and the age and nature of clasts reworked from the crest of the Sandown Anticline. Most individual hiatuses are interpreted as minor unconformities developed subsequent to inversion, rather than eustatically-generated sequence boundaries:transgressive surfaces. In contrast, the succession north of the Needles Fault (Alum Bay) does not contain hiatuses of magnitude or internal unconformities. In the north-west of the island, subsidiary anticlinal and synclinal structures developed in response to Eocene inversion events by the reactivation of minor basement faults. The new dates of the Eocene inversion events correspond closely with radiometric ages derived from fracture vein-fill calcites in Dorset, to the west (36-48Ma).

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