Using Oxygen and Carbon Isotopic Signatures in order to Infer Dietary Information in Bones from Kythnos Island, Greece

Abstract

Isotopic studies have been conducted on skeletal remains of ancient populations from Kythnos, an island of the Cyclades in Greece, for the purpose of dietary reconstruction; mostly through carbon and nitrogen isotopic signals of bone collagen, and apatite signatures (oxygen and carbon) as dietary and palaeoenvironmental tools. The basic aims of the present study are to reconstruct the diet of this population and to detect possible differentiations between the adult and the childhood/juvenile diet. The results of this study revealed that residents of Kythnos probably consumed C3 and C4 products as their primary protein source. In addition, the collagen results along with the collagen-apatite spacing possibly indicated a detectable consumption of freshwater sources. The isotopic analyses have been conducted at the Stable Isotope and Radiocarbon Unit of INN, NCSR “Demokritos”.