Man, nutrition and mobility: A comparison of teeth and bone from the Medieval era and the present from Pb and Sr isotopes

Naturally occurring isotopic systems, such as strontium (Sr) and lead (Pb), are very useful for characterizing different sources and to produce background information. Norwegian teeth from the Medieval era have 206Pb/204Pb ratios between 18.8 and 18.2, in comparison with present day ratios of between 18.0 and 17.6 showing the impact of Pb from modern industrialization and from traffic. Sr analyses of Medieval teeth show that an individual living in a coastal town on the west coast of Norway can easily be distinguished from one in a rural area at that time. The Sr signature shows that Medieval people lived on local products while present people to a greater degree live on imported or domestic industrially processed food. Medieval and modern teeth from one site give similar Pb signatures and concentrations indicating no increase in pollution over time. However, the impact of industrial pollution can be seen from Pb analyses on contemporary teeth, so that the method can be used to monitor emission of heavy metals from local industry. Whilst the Pb and Sr natural isotopic systems individually provide valuable information, a combination of the two techniques is a very powerful tool in environmental and archaeological research.