Microscopic Sampling of Dentine and Bone Collagen: Development of Sampling Methods for Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Analysis

Sampling methods for dentine and bone collagen have been evolving for several decades. Incremental dentine collagen sampling and bone collagen sampling have been limited by the available technology throughout that time. As the technology for isotope ratio mass spectrometry analysis improves, the sampling methods should improve as well. This research focused on developing a new incremental dentine collagen sampling method and bone collagen microsampling method for stable isotope analysis. This research aimed to increase the temporal resolution of incremental dentine collagen sampling and provided sequential collagen sampling from bone collagen for stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis while limiting the destructive nature of bioarchaeological analysis. It was determined that the temporal resolution for incremental analysis could be reduced to approximate three months, opposed to the nine months found in other sampling methods. It was also determined that detailed isotopic data could be obtained from bone collagen when sampling the microstructures. The increased amount of isotopic data from the bone collagen was an improvement on the commonly used bulk collagen sampling. This research can be utilised to answer several of the questions that archaeologists have been asking about past populations. Isotopic analysis using the methods developed in the research can provide a more detailed observation of the diet and health of past populations. In addition, the developed methods for bone and dentine collagen reduced the amount of tissue subjected to destructive analysis