Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Volume 139, Issue 4, Pages 494-504Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.21008
Keywords
stable isotopes; keratin; model
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Funding
- IsoForensics, Inc
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A semimechanistic model has recently been proposed to explain observed correlations between the H and O isotopic composition of hair from modern residents of the USA and the isotopic composition of drinking water, but the applicability of this model to hair from non-USA and preglobalization populations is unknown. Here we test the model against data from hair samples collected during the 1930s-1950s from populations of five continents. Although C and N isotopes confirm that the samples represent a much larger range of dietary space than the modern USA residents, the model is able to reproduce the observed delta H-2 and delta O-18 values given reasonable adjustments to 2 model parameters: the fraction of dietary intake derived from locally produced foods and the fraction of keratin H fixed during the in vivo synthesis of amino acids. The model is most sensitive to the local dietary intake, which appears to constitute between 60% and 80% of diet among the groups sampled. The isotopic data are consistent with a trophic-level effect on protein H isotopes, which we suggest primarily reflects mixing of H-2-enriched water and H-depleted food H in the body rather than fractionation during biosynthesis. Samples from Inuit groups suggest that humans with marine-dominated diets can be identified on the basis of coupled delta H-2 and delta O-18 values of hair. These results indicate a dual role for H and O isotopic measurements of keratin, including both biological (diet, physiology) and environmental (geographic movement, paleoclimate) reconstruction. Am J Phys Anthropol 139:494-504, 2009. (C) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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