Lab course: Isotopes in bones and teeth

The course content includes lectures covering:

introduction: why C and O isotopes in fossil tooth enamel
background on variations of C and O isotopic composition in terrestrial ecosystems
fossil bones and teeth: diagenesis and recovery of biogenic isotopic compositions
presentation of study material and sites for the practical part
applications of tooth enamel C and O isotopic tracking in Archaeology and Palaeontology e.g., diet, habitat, migration, herd husbandry, temperature reconstruction
data handling: graph construction and other practical aspects

However, a strong focus of the course is also on the practical component. This involves:

sampling teeth from an archaeologically relevant site using state of the art equipment
an introduction to the IRMS mass spectrometer and the carbonates preparation lab
scientific sketching and photographing of teeth samples
independently carrying out the various steps of carbonate pretreatment over 4 days
fine scale weighing of finished samples and preparing for stable isotope mass spectrometry