The Beaker People Project: an interim report on the progress of the isotopic analysis of the organic skeletal material

Abstract

• This paper is intended as an interim update for the Beaker People Project. The project aims to investigate mobility, diet, environment, and subsistence for the Late Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Early Bronze Age population of Britain using a number of research tools, but particularly isotopic analysis of bones and teeth. This paper concentrates on the organic analyses yielding carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur isotope ratio data, but also discusses the project remit and the use of strontium and oxygen ration values to track mobility. The project is discussed in general terms, an overview of the collagen analysis results is provided, general diet at this time is discussed, and interesting facets of the carbon and sulphur data are covered. Over 250 individuals from the north of Scotland down to southern England have been investigated for this project and a site list is included. This is a major five year project, so the discussion here is necessarily limited to the situation at the time of writing (June 2009) rather than to the publication date of this volume.