Linking isotope analysis and paleopathology: An andean perspective.

This paper reviews the significant advances in isotopic investigations in Andean South America and directs scholars to explore new theoretical and analytical directions, specifically the applicability of isotope data to paleopathology. Excellent preservation and large skeletal collections of human remains make the Central Andes ideal for biogeochemical reconstructions and advancements in isotopic methods. Our aims are twofold: first, we present a meta-analysis of stable and radiogenic isotope research in the Central Andes since 1985, and highlight those that combine analyses of isotope ratios and pathological conditions.

Analysis of nutritional disease in prehistory: The search for scurvy in antiquity and today.

In this paper, we discuss the issues surrounding the study of scurvy, or vitamin C deficiency, in paleopathology, and highlight the work of Donald Ortner in advancing this area of research. This micronutrient deficiency impacts collagen formation and results in damage to a variety of bodily tissues. While clinical manifestations are observed routinely, the lack of specific signatures on bone makes paleopathological diagnosis difficult.

Beyond the Paleolithic prescription: incorporating diversity and flexibility in the study of human diet evolution.

Evolutionary paradigms of human health and nutrition center on the evolutionary discordance or "mismatch" model in which human bodies, reflecting adaptations established in the Paleolithic era, are ill-suited to modern industrialized diets, resulting in rapidly increasing rates of chronic metabolic disease. Though this model remains useful, its utility in explaining the evolution of human dietary tendencies is limited. The assumption that human diets are mismatched to the evolved biology of humans implies that the human diet is instinctual or genetically determined and rooted in the Paleolithic era.

The variable roads to sacrifice: Isotopic investigations of human remains from Chotuna-Huaca de los Sacrificios, Lambayeque, Peru.

This study investigates two key variables-residential context and subsistence-among sacrificial victims dating to the Late Horizon (A.D. 1450-1532) in the Huaca de los Sacrificios at the Chotuna-Chornancap Archaeological Complex in north coastal Peru.

Diet, residential origin, and pathology at Machu Picchu, Peru.

Pathological conditions in human skeletal remains provide a wealth of information about archaeological populations, but many are limited in their interpretive significance by their nonspecific etiologies. This study analyzes three common pathological conditions known to manifest in infancy and childhood in the skeletal population from Machu Picchu, Peru (N = 74) with published carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, strontium, and lead isotopic data (Turner et al.: J Archaeol Sci 36 (2009) 317-332; Turner et al.