Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The most widely studied and used isotopes in archaeology are carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, strontium and calcium. [2] An isotope is an atom of an element with an abnormal number of neutrons, changing their atomic mass. [2] Isotopes can be subdivided into stable and unstable or radioactive. Unstable isotopes decay at a predictable rate over time. [2]
Archaeological materials, such as bone, organic residues, hair, or sea shells, can serve as substrates for isotopic analysis. Carbon, nitrogen and zinc isotope ratios are used to investigate the diets of past people; these isotopic systems can be used with others, such as strontium or oxygen, to answer questions about population movements and cultural interactions, such as trade.
The longest-lived of these isotopes, and the most relevantly studied, are 90 Sr with a half-life of 28.9 years, 85 Sr with a half-life of 64.853 days, and 89 Sr (89 Sr) with a half-life of 50.57 days. All other strontium isotopes have half-lives shorter than 50 days, most under 100 minutes.
Stable isotope analysis is the final category of dental analysis for diet that can be considered, as the usual techniques of isotope analysis applied to bones to infer diet, can also be applied to teeth. Carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and strontium are the most commonly studied. [38]
The rubidium–strontium dating method (Rb–Sr) is a radiometric dating technique, used by scientists to determine the age of rocks and minerals from their content of specific isotopes of rubidium (87 Rb) and strontium (87 Sr, 86 Sr). One of the two naturally occurring isotopes of rubidium, 87 Rb, decays to 87 Sr with a half-life of 49.
Janet was awarded a PhD in 2002. Her thesis was the first application of radiogenic lead and strontium isotope analysis to human remains from archaeological sites in Britain, in order to investigate diet and mobility. [1] From 2003 to 2007, Montgomery was a NERC postdoctoral fellow at the University of Bradford.
Natural strontium is a mixture of four stable isotopes: 84 Sr, 86 Sr, 87 Sr, and 88 Sr. [11] On these isotopes, 88 Sr is the most abundant, makes up about 82.6% of all natural strontium, though the abundance varies due to the production of radiogenic 87 Sr as the daughter of long-lived beta-decaying 87 Rb. [22]
Naturally occurring strontium is nonradioactive and nontoxic at levels normally found in the environment, but 90 Sr is a radiation hazard. [4] 90 Sr undergoes β − decay with a half-life of 28.79 years and a decay energy of 0.546 MeV distributed to an electron, an antineutrino, and the yttrium isotope 90 Y, which in turn undergoes β − decay with a half-life of 64 hours and a decay energy ...