Bioarchaeology
Forensic Anthropology
Palaeopathology and palaeauxology
Social and political organization
Geographic identities and migration studies
Culture Areas: The Andes, Mesoamerica, Northeast Great Plains
My M.A. thesis focused on investigating the utility of Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Mass Spectroscopy (LA-ICP-MS) to the study of dietary changes during childhood via trace element analyses of human teeth. The results suggested that this method could be used with good results to track changes in dietary patterns during tooth formation, and I am currently involved in a continuing research project which will expand upon this study. Lines of incremental growth in human teeth, which form during childhood, can be examined via LA-ICM-PS to identify specific times during an individual’s life at which dietary changes occurred. These childhood data can then be compared to isotopic values from other skeletal material in order to assess the likelihood that a given individual changed residence locality, social identity, and/or cultural affiliation, and thus endured a significant dietary shift, between youth and adulthood.
My Ph.D. dissertation employs biological, archaeological and ethnographic lines of evidence to investigate the presence and role of foreigners buried at the site of Túcume, Peru. The objectives are: 1) to identify migrants, and their possible regions of origin, through stable isotope and archaeological analyses; and 2) to establish whether these individuals were brought to Túcume for a specific purpose, as is suggested by ethnohistoric records. Recent studies have demonstrated the utility of biogeochemical analysis to the identification of foreigners within archaeological samples. The oxygen isotope composition of the water we drink fluctuates with climatic and environmental variables such as temperature, humidity and altitude. Strontium ratios vary by age and type of rock, and move from bedrock to soil, into the food chain and into human tissues. Thus, our bodies are physical reflections of the environments in which we live and changing environments results in changes to the isotopic composition of our bodies. Our teeth develop only during childhood and are not altered once formed, while bone continues to remodel until death. Human hair contains isotopic signals acquired during the last weeks of life. The stable isotope values of these tissues therefore reflect resource consumption and residence during different periods of life (childhood vs. adulthood). By analyzing multiple tissues from a single individual for both isotopes, we can ‘see’ migration over time and begin to identify the geographic areas between which individuals move.