Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology

2014 Edition
| Editors: Claire Smith

Bone Chemistry and Ancient Diet

Reference work entry
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_329
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Introduction

Dietary practices are a fundamental aspect of human life, from the basic caloric necessities to the socioeconomic variables which affect food production, acquisition, preparation, and consumption. Archaeologists have used many different data sources to study ancient dietary practices, including direct evidence from animal bones, macrobotanical plant remains, pollen and phytoliths in the soil, organic residues in pottery, and coprolites, as well as indirect evidence from skeletal pathology, dental wear patterns, ethnographic observations, writings, and artistic depictions. Nevertheless, for most such studies, the results are just the determination of the main menu, with animal foods the only source of semiquantitative dietary estimates.

It was only in the late 1970s that a new area of research developed – bone chemistry – which has expanded considerably our understanding of human dietary practices (Vogel & van der Merwe 1977). Biochemically, you are what you eat, and...

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Notes

Acknowledgments

I especially thank Nikolaas J. van der Merwe for getting me involved in isotope analyses more than 20 years ago, the dozens of colleagues I have worked with on six continents, and the many undergraduate and graduate students who have worked in my lab. For more than 10 years, most of my isotope samples have been analyzed in the Paleolab, managed by Ethan Goddard.

References

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© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of AnthropologyUniversity of South FloridaTampaUSA