A modern baseline for the paired isotopic analysis of skin and bone in terrestrial mammals

Royal Society Open Science

Michelle M. Alexander¹  Alison J. T. Harris²  Sean P. Doherty³  Matthew J. Collins⁴  Jason Newton⁵  Ainara Sistiaga⁶ 

[1] BioArCh, Department of Archaeology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK;Department of Archaeology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St John's A1C 5S7, Canada;Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QE, UK;McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3ER, UK;NERC Life Sciences Mass Spectrometry Facility, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, East Kilbride G75 0QF, UK;Section for Evolutionary Genomics, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen 1353, Denmark;

关键词: skin;    bone;    archaeology;    cross-disciplinary sciences;    analytical chemistry;    stable isotope analysis;   

DOI  :  10.1098/rsos.211587

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

We present the isotopic discrimination between paired skin and bone collagen from animals of known life history, providing a modern baseline for the interpretation of archaeological isotopic data. At present, the interpretation of inter-tissue variation (Δ(skin–bone)) in mummified remains is based on comparisons with other archaeological material, which have attributed divergence to their contrasting turnover rates, with rapidly remodelling skin collagen incorporating alterations in environmental, cultural and physiological conditions in the months prior to death. While plausible, the lack of baseline data from individuals with known life histories has hindered evaluation of the explanations presented. Our analysis of a range of animals raised under a variety of management practices showed a population-wide trend for skin collagen to be depleted in 13C by –0.7‰ and enriched in 15N by +1.0‰ relative to bone collagen, even in stillborn animals. These results are intriguing and difficult to explain using current knowledge; however, on the basis of the findings reported here, we caution any results which interpret simply on differing turnover rates. We hypothesize that there may be a consistent difference in the routing of dietary protein and lipids between skin and bone, with potentially on-site synthesis of non-essential amino acids using carbon and nitrogen that have been sourced via different biochemical pathways.

【 授权许可】

Unknown