Keywords

Bioarchaeology, stable isotope analysis, inter tissue spacing, growth and development

Abstract

Although stable isotope analysis is routinely utilized in bioarchaeology and relies on principles that are well-understood, there are still fundamental issues that have not been thoroughly investigated. This thesis examines the relationship between inter-tissue spacing of carbon stable isotope values (δ13C) and age in juvenile human remains. Analyses of tissues within the same individual reveal disparate isotopic values for a variety of physiological and biological reasons discussed herein. This project examines the distance between the δ13C values in bone collagen, skin, hair, and nail, and examines how these distances vary between different age groups, utilizing data collected from 52 well-preserved human remains from the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt: 28 individuals between the ages of 1 and 4 years, 14 between 5 and 10 years, and 10 between the ages of 11-15 years. The mean carbon isotope values for each tissue were compared across each age group, and used to calculate the differences between each tissue type. Although distances between tissues were found to vary across all age categories, the distances between collagen and hair, collagen and skin, and collagen and nail are all substantially greater in the 11-15 year old category than those in the 1-4 and 5-10 year categories. Possible physiological, developmental and social factors are discussed in an effort to explain this discrepancy

Notes

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Graduation Date

2012

Semester

Summer

Advisor

Dupras, Tosha

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Anthropology

Degree Program

Anthropology

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0004418

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0004418

Language

English

Release Date

August 2012

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Sciences, Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic

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