Biogeochemical Anthropology at Emory University

The Biogeochemical Anthropology Lab at Emory is housed in the Anthropology Dept. in the Geoscience Bldg. (Rm 112). The laboratory was established in 2001 as a facility to prepare fossil and archeological material for isotopic and trace element analyses. Biological subtrates currently being analyzed in the lab include fossil enamel apatite for stable C and O isotopic signatures, archeological bone collagen and mummy tissue for stable C and N, modern and archeolgocial bone and enamel apatite for C and O, modern plants and fossil residues for C and O, and soil and paleosol components. Facilities include vacuum lines for cryogenic distillation of gases for mass spectrometry, systems for extraction of non-collagenous proteins from bone, preparation of minute samples of bone and tooth apatite for digestion in phosphoric acid, and preparation of organic plants, eggshells, invertebrate tests, and other biological material for isotopic analyses. As many of the final procedures for gas production prior to mass spectrometry have been automated and incorporated on-line, much of the cyogenic distillation of samples is for training students, high-resolution determination of yields, and scrubbing gases of byproducts that potentially introduce interferring masses during mass spectrometer runs. Mass spectrometry facilities with which we have formed collaborations for sample analyses include the Stable Isotope Lab at the University of Florida and the Earth System Center for Stable Isotopic Studies at Yale University.

Projects range from reconstructing early hominin ecosystems in East Africa, assessing isotopic variability in modern African fauna and flora, to characterizing isotopic variability in Nubian populations related to shifting dietary and life history patterns. A number of these projects are collaborative efforts with George Armelagos and his students. Research includes training students in these techniques, both at the graduate and undergraduate level - for Ph.D. research, undergraduate honor theses, and class projects.

 

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