I've gotten a bit behind in posting lectures -- a few technical problems arose in the fifth week of class, and took a week to sort through. Now I've got lectures for the sixth week and forward, and I'll be posting them this week.
This lecture looks at the enamel of teeth as a source of information about life history of ancient hominins and humans. The essential data are the ratios of different stable isotopes of the elements carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, and the proportion of strontium. The lecture presents some of the background to understand the relation of these stable isotopes to diet and the landscape. They provide evidence about the level on the food chain that an individual occupies, the proportion of grass-derived foods to foods from other plants, and the geographic region where an individual formed his or her teeth.
I cover some examples, including the diet of early hominins, the Neandertals, and some archaeological examples from prehistoric and medieval Britain.