title: Oral histories: a simple method of assigning chronological age to isotopic values from human dentine collagen.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Stable isotope ratios of carbon (δ(13)C) and nitrogen (δ(15)N) in bone and dentine collagen have been used for over 30 years to estimate palaeodiet, subsistence strategy, breastfeeding duration and migration within burial populations. Recent developments in dentine microsampling allow improved temporal resolution for dietary patterns.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  A simple method is proposed which could be applied to human teeth to estimate chronological age represented by dentine microsamples in the direction of tooth growth, allowing comparison of dietary patterns between individuals and populations. The method is tested using profiles from permanent and deciduous teeth of two individuals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using a diagrammatic representation of dentine development by approximate age for each human tooth (based on the Queen Mary University of London Atlas), this study estimated the age represented by each dentine section. Two case studies are shown: comparison of M1 and M2 from a 19th century individual from London, England, and identification of an unknown tooth from an Iron Age female adult from Scotland.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The isotopic profiles demonstrate that variations in consecutively-forming teeth can be aligned using this method to extend the dietary history of an individual or identify an unknown tooth by matching the profiles.
authors.affiliation: a School of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford , Bradford , UK and.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Beaumont
authors.affiliation: b Department of Archaeology , Durham University , Durham , UK.
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Montgomery
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000366:Age Determination by Teeth / Q000379:methods*; D003094:Collagen / Q000737:chemistry*; D003804:Dentin / Q000254:growth & development*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D008963:Molar / Q000254:growth & development*; D012606:Scotland
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen
keywords: Age assignment; carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios; incremental analysis; palaeodiet