Praktikum: Isotopes in bones and teeth
This one week long course on stable isotopes in bones and teeth takes place at the beginning of the Winter Semester. It will take place 8-12th October in 2018.
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