Isotopes and isoscapes for Australian archaeology: A review

Both stable and radiogenic isotope analyses are widely applied in archaeological science to examine questions related to geochronology, diet, mobility, provenance and trade. Increasingly, measurements from materials of archaeological interest are used in conjunction with ‘isoscapes’ − spatially explicit maps of isotope composition from regional to continental scale. Comparison of analytical results to the spatial information available from isoscapes provides more nuanced interpretive power, particularly when several isotope systems are used in combination. Several isoscapes have become available for part or all the Australian continent in the last decade, generally developed for users in ecology, hydrology and mineral resource exploration. Here we review the development and interpretation of Australian isoscapes for hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, strontium, neodymium and lead. We then assess the possibilities and limitations of these isoscapes to address contemporary challenges in Australian archaeology.

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

73

2352-4103

N/A

N/A

16