The oxygen isotope relationship between the phosphate and structural carbonate fractions of human bioapatite

RATIONALE Oxygen isotope analysis of archaeological human dental enamel is widely used as a proxy for the drinking water composition (δ 18 O DW ) of the individual and thus can be used as an indicator of their childhood place of origin. In this paper we demonstrate the robustness of structural carbonate oxygen isotope values (δ 18 O C ) in bioapatite to preserve the life signal of human tooth enamel by comparing it with phosphate oxygen isotope...