Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1037011 Journal of Archaeological Science 2009 8 Pages PDF
Abstract

We present an evaluation of the laser ablation Sr isotope data reported by Richards et al. [Richards, M., Harvati, K., Grimes, V., Colin Smith, C., Smith, T., Jean-Jacques Hublin, J.J., Karkanas, P., and Panagopoulou, E., 2008. Strontium isotope evidence of Neanderthal mobility at the site of Lakonis, Greece using laser ablation PIMMS. Journal of Archaeological Science 35, 1251–1256] for a Neanderthal tooth recovered from a site in Greece. Based on an alternative and analytically more robust method of correcting for isobaric interferences present during the analysis the tooth appears to be isotopically homogenous and within uncertainty of the value for modern seawater. If this is the case then contrary to the migration model proposed by Richards et al. [Richards, M., Harvati, K., Grimes, V., Colin Smith, C., Smith, T., Jean-Jacques Hublin, J.J., Karkanas, P., and Panagopoulou, E., 2008. Strontium isotope evidence of Neanderthal mobility at the site of Lakonis, Greece using laser ablation PIMMS. Journal of Archaeological Science 35, 1251–1256] the Neanderthal individual may have actually been a coastal dweller and lived within the vicinity of the find site.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Materials Science Materials Science (General)
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