Christine White

Western University | UWO · Department of Anthropology

In archaeological populations the oxygen isotope composition (δ 18 O) of human bones and teeth can be used to reconstruct climatic conditions and landscape mobility by serving as a proxy for changes in δ 18 O of consumed water. Until now, providing this information at the seasonal scale, across broad periods of an individual's life, has been consid...

This study presents sulfur isotope compositions (δ³⁴S) for plants grown in a series of growth chamber and field experiments under controlled conditions. Maize, beans, and squash fertilized with a marine fertilizer (seabird guano) were significantly enriched in ³⁴S relative to the unfertilized control plants (by +4.0 to +7.2‰) in the growth chamber...

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope compositions were determined for camelid bone collagen, hair, and wool (fibre) sampled from textiles from archaeological sites in the Santa Valley (north coast of Perú) occupied during Moche III (El Castillo, A.D. 300−500) and Moche IV (Guadalupito, A.D. 500−700) phases; a small number of camelid bone collagen sam...

This study investigates the diet of an eleventh century CE parish community located in northwestern Germany. We assessed the isotopic compositions of human (n = 24) and faunal (n = 17) bone collagen (δ13Ccol, δ15Ncol) and human structural carbonate (δ13Csc) using skeletal material recovered from the Dalheim cemetery. Traditional interpretation of t...

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions were determined for wool textiles from the Lambayeque (c. ad 1100–1320) occupation at Pacatnamú in the Jequetepeque Valley, northern Peru. The isotopic data demonstrate that the wool was not obtained via long-distance exchange with the highlands and was most probably derived from locally raised camel...

A fundamental research concern within contemporary bioarchaeology is the sensitive balance between the preservation of human remains and the use of destructive techniques to collect information. Here we describe one example of how multiple microspatial destructive/semi-destructive techniques may be carried out in sequence using only the enamel of a...

Understanding childhood experiences of health and well-being is essential to reconstructing ancient life-ways. Here, archaeological hair samples from five juveniles from Cahuachi and near Huaca del Loro in the Nasca Region, Peru, are analyzed for their carbon- and nitrogen-isotope compositions and cortisol levels. Stable isotopic data are used to i...

Archeological hair from 14 adults from the Nasca Region, Peru (c. AD1-1000) was analyzed for carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions and cortisol levels. We investigated the relationship between isotopic compositions, which reflect diet, and cortisol, which reflects biogenic cortisol production and chronic stress. Using a case study approach, we...

Carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions of wool textiles from the north (Virú, Early Intermediate Period) and central (Chancay, Late Intermediate Period) coasts of Peru were used to reconstruct the diet and habitat of the camelids (llamas and alpacas) from which they were produced in order to better understand the regional political economies. Th...

South American camelids (llamas and alpacas) were of great economic, social and ritual significance in the pre-Hispanic Andes. Although these animals are largely limited to high-altitude (>3500 masl) pastures, it has been hypothesised that camelids were also raised at lower altitudes in the arid coastal river valleys. Previous isotopic studies of E...

In archaeological research, human bone and enamel bioapatite isotopic compositions are commonly used to reconstruct residential and dietary histories. In doing so, enamel and bone bioapatite are implicitly treated as isotopically equivalent, but recent research has determined that carbonate–carbon and –oxygen isotopic compositions of these two tiss...

Recent studies of dietary behavior have combined dental microwear and isotopic analyses in their investigation of both animal (Palombo et al. 2005) and human populations (Hogue and Melsheimer 2008; Pérez-Pérez et al. 2003). The purpose of this investigation is to determine the residential history of dedicatory burials from two nonresidential struct...

Paleodiet research traditionally interprets differences in collagen isotopic compositions (δ(13) C, δ(15) N) as indicators of dietary distinction even though physiological processes likely play some role in creating variation. This research investigates the degree to which bone collagen δ(13) C and δ(15) N values normally vary within the skeleton a...

In this study, we used oxygen- and hydrogen-isotope data from human bone (δ18O) and modern environmental water samples (δ18O and δD) to investigate geographic origins of individuals buried at Cahuachi, a ceremonial centre in the Nasca region of Peru (c.AD1-1000). Our objective was to characterise the natural variation in water stable isotopic compo...

Only about 19 of the 70 or so skeletons excavated at Cerro Portezuelo were brought back to UCLA, and adequate information is lacking for most of these. A detailed analysis of the excavation and curation records, as well as of the skeletons, was conducted in an attempt to identify their contexts and to evaluate their potential for contribution to ou...

The phenomenon of the Spanish Conquest of the Maya region suggests strongly that, in the process of socio-cultural transformation, ‘religion’ has no meaning as a concept with its own particular dynamic. There is no such thing as ‘religious’ change that is not also tied to other sorts of changes and indeed to continuity. One dramatic change was the...

The development of isotopic baselines for comparison with paleodietary data is crucial, but often overlooked. We review the factors affecting the carbon (δ(13)C) and nitrogen (δ(15)N) isotopic compositions of plants, with a special focus on the carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions of twelve different species of cultivated plants (n = 91) and 1...

Sampling site locations for wild and market plants. This.kmz file can be executed in Google Earth (http://www.earth.google.com) (KML)

Background: Stable isotope analysis is being utilized with increasing regularity to examine a wide range of issues (diet, habitat use, migration) in ecology, geology, archaeology, and related disciplines. A crucial component to these studies is a thorough understanding of the range and causes of baseline isotopic variation, which is relatively poo...

Raw isotopic and elemental data for all samples analyzed. (XLS)

In this article, we discuss new stable isotope data obtained from human dental tissue at the Krieger site, a Late Woodland Western Basin Tradition occupation from southwestern Ontario, Canada. These data point to significant maize consumption within an otherwise diffuse subsistence economy and settlement pattern geared toward the occupation of shor...

A recent trend in stable isotopic analysis involves the reconstruction of short-term variations in diet using hair segments. However, bulk hair samples typically contain a growth cycle error, which may conceal or confound the most recently incorporated isotopic information. It is assumed that, at any given time, ∼85-90% of scalp hairs are actively...

Stable isotope geochemistry has had a significant impact in archaeology and anthropology of ancient peoples. Regional gradients in δ18O and 87Sr/86Sr are reflected in the bones and teeth of ancient humans and can be used to detect migration of individuals from their place of birth or early life. Studies of carbon and nitrogen isotopes in bones and...

The centrality of food, drink and feasting in religious and ceremonial activities of the Lowland Maya, especially the nobility, is well recognized, and has also been tied to political economies (see Foias 2007). Numerous representations of drinking, serving and storage vessels appear in historical and mythological scenes depicted on figure-painted...

Despite a long history of contributions by physical anthropologists to our understanding of the Mesoamerican past, it has only been over the past few decades that a closer relationship has developed between bioarchaeology and archaeology in the region. The next step should be the integration of bioarchaeologists in the planning as well as the execu...

Stable carbon- and nitrogen-isotope ratios were measured for segments along the shafts of hair from eight individuals from the site of Pacatnamu, located in the Jequetepeque Valley on the north coast of Peru. All are from known grave contexts dating from Moche (ca. 450–750 A.D.) to Lambayeque periods (ca. 900–1100 A.D.). The mean δ13C and δ15N valu...

Tropical dendrochronology can be complicated because many trees growing in these areas lack distinct visible annual rings. However, the oxygen-isotope composition of wood growing in tropical regions can provide a record of seasonal fluctuations in the amount of precipitation even when visible rings are absent. Variations in the oxygen-isotope compo...

In 1974, Peter Lewin led a team that undertook an autopsy of an Egyptian mummy. The 20th dynasty mummy was in the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum and was named Nakht. Three years later, Lewin & Harwood-Nash performed the first CT scan ever done on a mummy to analyze Nakht’s brain. In subsequent years, ROM mummies have continued to be examine...

The stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values (δ 13C, δ 15N) of collagen and the carbon isotope value of structural carbonate in bioapatite were measured in the bones and teeth of Early Classic to Historic period Maya buried at Chau Hiix, Belize. Diet at Chau Hiix comprised a mixture of resources but contained an unusual amount of protein from high...

This article presents stable nitrogen and carbon isotopic analyses of diet at the Maya sites of Marco Gonzalez and San Pedro, Belize. This study, which provides important insight into social organization, trade, and subsistence economy for the Postclassic and Historic periods (ca. A.D. 900-1650), also expands our understanding of the distribution o...

Stable carbon and oxygen isotope values (δ13C, δ18O) were obtained for structural carbonate in the bioapatite of archaeological bones from Guatemala and Sudan using several common analytical methods. For the Sudan samples, the different methods produced δ13C values within ±0.1‰ and δ18O values within ±0.7‰, on average. The isotopic results for the...

The beginnings of the Royal Ontario Museum can be traced back to the excavations and collections of Charles Trick Currelly, a staff member of the Egyptian Exploration Fund in the early 1900s. Currelly excavated with Sir Flinders Petrie at Abydos and with Edouard Naville at Deir el Bahari. With the assistance of Robert Mond, Currelly amassed a rich...

Carbon and oxygen-isotope compositions of mammalian bone carbonate from bioapatite can be used to reconstruct diet, track migration and determine climatic conditions during ancient times. Hence, the extent to which primary isotopic compositions are preserved during post-mortem alteration is of interest. Bone samples are commonly obtained from conte...

The potential of in situ microsampling (micromilling and IR-laser ablation) to detect intra-sample isotopic variation resulting from diagenesis and/or natural remodeling of bone was examined in this study. Modern sheep bones were exposed to microbial populations to induce diagenesis and the δ13C and δ18O values of bioapatite structural carbonate an...

The carbon and oxygen isotope compositions of structural carbonate contained in bioapatite can be obtained by reaction with ortho-phosphoric acid at various temperatures and reaction times, using off-line or automated sample preparation, and continuous-flow or dual-inlet isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS). Here, we compare the isotopic composit...

The extent of preservation of stable isotope compositions in biomaterials exposed to burial and weathering continues to be a topic of some debate. Changes in the isotopic composition of archaeological bones and teeth during recrystallization are often suspected, but difficult to prove. Here, we examined the effects of heating (burning, boiling) on...

To investigate geographic origins of the sacrificial Burials 2-5 from the Moon Pyramid at Teotihuacan and to reconstruct changes in residence since their childhoods, we analyzed tooth enamel for oxygen- and strontium-isotope ratios and bone just for oxygen-isotope ratios. The combination of these analytical techniques involves both climatic and geo...

Dental modification, present in 36% of the adult burial sample (N = 61) dating to the Postclassic period at Lamanai, Belize, was analyzed to determine its association with status and sex using both biological dietary indicators (stable-isotope and dental-pathology data) and archaeological indicators (grave location and architecture). There was...

Mayanists in archaeology and physical anthropology have been preoccupied with unravelling the mystery of the so-called "collapse" of Maya civilization for years. The current prevailing explanatory theory, the ecological model, happens to be one that physical anthropologists, particularly, are able to test. The ecological model has existed for over...

The weaning process was investigated at two Maya sites dominated by Postclassic remains: Marco Gonzalez (100 BC-AD 1350) and San Pedro (1400-AD 1650), Belize. Bone collagen and bioapatite were analyzed from 67 individuals (n < or = 6 years = 15, n > 6 years = 52). Five isotopic measures were used to reconstruct diet and weaning: stable nitrogen- an...

Ethnohistoric and archaeological evidence indicates that the production and distribution of food was an important source of agency and power for ancient Mayan women. Although it is believed that elite women controlled food used in rituals, isotopic measures of diet from a variety of sites representing different environments and time periods indicat...

Mechanisms for the maintenance of Zapotec ethnicity in Tlailotlacan, an enclave of Teotihuacan, Mexico, are reconstructed using oxygen-isotope analyses of bone and enamel phosphate. The data indicate continual interaction among the enclave inhabitants, their Oaxacan homeland, and other diaspora colonies, with no dominant post-marital residence patt...

Sections of human hair from naturally desiccated Sudanese Nubian mummies representing X-Group (AD 350–550) and Christian (AD 550–1300) periods in the Wadi Halfa area were analysed by Journal of Archaeological Science, 20 (1993) 657. These data can be interpreted in terms of a model of annual variation of food consumption that apparently remained st...

Stable carbon isotope ratios in bone collagen and oxygen isotope ratios in bone and enamel phosphate from 25 individuals from the residential compound of Tlajinga 33 were used to examine the possibility that the inhabitants, who were craft producers, may have accepted immigrants to maintain either their ability to reproduce themselves as a social g...

The large series of sacrificial victims excavated from the Feathered Serpent Pyramid (ca. A.D. 200) includes 72 males identified as soldiers. Although most of these wore pendants of imitation human maxillae, four soldiers each had between seven and eleven real human maxillae. Dental dimensions indicate that most, and perhaps all, of these trop...

Stable isotope analysis of human skeletons has been used succesfully for years to determine the quatity and kind of animals consumed as food, even in the humid tropics where skeletal material may not be diagnostically useful for many other things. This paper discusses the largely unrealized potential, and the pros and cons, of using stable isotopic...

Bioapatite, the principal inorganic phase comprising bone, commonly contains a small fraction of carbonate, which has been substituted into the phosphate structure during bone formation. The isotopic compositions of both the phosphate oxygen and the structural carbonate oxygen are now commonly used in palaeoclimatological and bioarchaeological inve...

Stable oxygen isotopic compositions of phosphate from mammal bones are commonly used in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. However, preservation of the primary bone oxygen isotopic composition is of concern during post-mortem alteration. Particularly in studies of archaeological interest, bone samples are often obtained from contexts where they h...

This study addresses the political and military structure of early Teotihuacan through the analysis of oxygen-isotope ratios in skeletal phosphate from 41 victims of a sacrifice associated with the Feathered Serpent Pyramid. Oxygen-isotope ratios are markers of geographic identity. A comparison of bone and enamel values, which provides a contrast b...

This study reports stable carbon-isotope ratios for both bone collagen and apatite, and nitrogen-isotope ratios for bone collagen for 72 Maya skeletons from 9 zones representing contrasting status groups at Altun Ha, Belize. The sample spans the Preclassic to Postclassic periods, approximately 800 B. C. to after A. D. 950. Although Altun Ha has a m...

Based on our assessment of human exploitation of animals in the New World, we propose that one criterion for domestication should be dependence on humans for food, a trait that we test through isotopic analysis of faunal remains. Stable carbon- and nitrogen-isotope compositions of bone collagen have been analysed for 24 dogs and 16 deer found in we...

An analysis of oxygen-isotope ratios in skeletal phosphate was used to assess the possibility that the Early Classic period (A.D. 280–550) Maya elite male in Tomb F/8-1 from the eastern Belizean site of Altun Ha had originally come from Teotihuacan, Mexico. When compared with four other individuals used as controls for spatial and temporal var...

Oxygen-isotope ratios of enamel phosphate from a sample of first and third molars from burials in the important state of Kaminaljuyú, Guatemala, have been used to identify individuals who were born in foreign regions or who relocated during late childhood. The goal of this research is to clarify the nature of the influence exercised by the larger M...

The recovery of animal and plant remains from the site of Cahal Pech provides data on early diet and subsistence practices in the Belize Valley region of the Maya lowlands. Analysis of the material remains suggests that the Middle Preclassic Maya were practising a mixed subsistence economy relying on agricultural foodstuffs, local terrestrial game...

Stable carbon isotopes of the hair and skin of six Roman–Byzantine Period (400–700 AD) individuals from the Kharga Oasis, Egypt, were analysed in order to reconstruct degrees of dietary variability or stability in an oasis ecology. These results are compared to previously studied contemporaneous individuals who lived at sites from the Nilotic ecolo...

Oxygen isotope analysis of human bone phosphate is used for archaeological samples from three sites in Mexico with contemporaneous time sequences to test its usefulness in determining population movement and locational stability. Individuals (N=11) from the Teotihuacan site of Tlajinga 33 represent an isotopic baseline for the Basin of Mexico from...

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes were analysed on bone collagen of 43 Sudanese Nubians from the X-Group period to test dietary hypotheses for the high frequency of osteopenia in this population. Stable carbon isotope ratios indicate that both normal and osteopenic individuals consumed the same mixed diet of C3 and C4 sources, which are assumed t...

We analyzed archaeological human bone from Teotihuacan and Oaxaca, dating from about 300 BC to 750 AD to distinguish ethnic groups within Teotihuacan using oxygen isotopes. Sixty-eight analyses of bone phosphate δ18O were made of 64 individuals. In addition to oxygen isotopic analysis, the bones were examined using FTIR spectra, with some additiona...

The skeletal remains of a 54-year-old Caucasian male were found concealed in a wooded area near a campsite two years after his disappearance. Police had earlier located the deceased's truck at another location. Suspicions arose that following his death he had been burned at a nearby site; however, anthropological fieldwork did not reveal any human...

Maya adult crania from the site of Lamanai, Belize provide a retrospective means of examining growth processes in the cranial vault. The Lamanai population practiced fronto-occipital deformation which is found to be significantly associated with premature sagittal synostosis and wormian bones of the lambdoidal suture. The undeformed members of the...

We review evidence from human biology—paleopathological and isotopic paleodietary studies on ancient Maya skeletons—to assess the validity of ecological models of the Classic Maya collapse, in which elevated disease and deteriorating diet are commonly assumed. To be upheld, the health arguments of ecological models require that the Maya disease bur...

From Meroitic to Christian times (350 B.C.-A.D. 1400), Sudanese Nubia experienced political, economic, cultural, and environmental upheaval. Change in any one of these aspects of ancient lifeways can affect subsistence. Dietary patterns from this period are reconstructed by measuring stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in tissue samples from...

The reconstruction of diet using analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes of human bone collagen from the recently discovered Maya civic-ceremonial site of Pacbitun, Belize, provides some insight into the relationship between the role of intensive agricultural practice and site abandonment. Maize dependency appears to have changed in degree...

Sections of human hair from naturally desiccated Sudanese Nubian mummies representing X-Group (AD 350-550) and Christian (AD 550-1300) periods in the Wadi Halfa area have been analysed for their isotope ratios. Because the carbon in hair represents food intake over the growth period of this tissue, analysis comparing segments taken next to the scal...

Samples of human bone from the Lowland Maya site of Lamanai, Belize have been analysed for the trace elements Sr, Mg, and Zn and for δ15 N and δ13 C of collagen, in order to test various models of diet over the time range from pre-Classic (1250 bc to 250 ad) to Historic (1520 ad to 1670 ad) periods. The content of maize in the diet is inferred from...

Nakht Peter Lewin oversaw 20+ years of research focused on this collection of mummies, and accomplished several "firsts" for mummy studies. In 1974 he led the autopsy of Nakht, a mummy with a particularly fine coffin, who dated to the XXI st dynasty. This undertaking was inspired by the autopsy of PUM –II (Lewin 1977), performed in 1973 by A. Cockb...