Palaeodiet & Stable Isotopes

The research group at RLAHA studies the stable isotopes of carbon (¹³C/¹²C), nitrogen (¹⁵N/¹⁴N), hydrogen (D/H), sulphur (³⁴S/³²S) and calcium (⁴⁴Ca/⁴²Ca/⁴⁰Ca) for a wide variety of disciplines such as:

• Archaeology (ancient diet, population movement, animal herding strategy, bone diagenesis)
• Ecology (ecosystem and trophic level studies)
• Nutritional metabolism and physiology (dietary isotope effects derived from modern/archaeological hair, bone and teeth, enzyme kinetic studies, dietary amino acid profiles in modern/archaeological bone
• Biomedical (bone composition and turnover rates in humans and animals, osteoporosis)

We welcome collaborative involvement in archaeological problems, especially where the issues lend themselves to resolution by stable isotope analysis, and where demographic hypotheses may be tested (please contact Professor Hedges .)

Students interested in studying at the RLAHA as a final year undergraduate, or at Masters or DPhil level should contact Professor Hedges .