The North American Repository for Archaeological Isotopes

Traci N Billings; Erin Scott; Carlo Cocozza; Sean Hixon; Nicole Boivin; Patrick Roberts; Robert N Spengler 3rd; Ricardo Fernandes

doi:10.1038/s41597-024-04175-2

The North American Repository for Archaeological Isotopes

Sci Data. 2025 Jan 11;12(1):50. doi: 10.1038/s41597-024-04175-2.

Authors

Traci N Billings^{1

2

3}, Erin Scott⁴, Carlo Cocozza^{4

5

6}, Sean Hixon^{4

7}, Nicole Boivin^{4

8

9}, Patrick Roberts^{4

10}, Robert N Spengler 3rd^{4

11}, Ricardo Fernandes^{12

13

14

15}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, 07745, Germany. [email protected].
² Institute for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Kiel, 24118, Germany. [email protected].
³ Domestication and Anthropogenic Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, 07745, Germany. [email protected].
⁴ Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, 07745, Germany.
⁵ Mediterranean bioArchaeological Research Advances (MAReA) centre, Università degli studi della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Caserta, 81100, Italy.
⁶ ArchaeoBioCenter (ABC), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, 80539, Germany.
⁷ Department of Integrative Biology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA.
⁸ School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4071, Australia.
⁹ Griffith Sciences, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, 4111, Australia.
¹⁰ isoTROPIC Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, 07745, Germany.
¹¹ Domestication and Anthropogenic Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, 07745, Germany.
¹² Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, 07745, Germany. [email protected].
¹³ Department of Bioarchaeology, Faculty of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Warszawa, 00-927, Poland. [email protected].
¹⁴ Climate Change and History Research Initiative, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA. [email protected].
¹⁵ Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno, 602 00, Czech Republic. [email protected].

PMID: 39799107
DOI: 10.1038/s41597-024-04175-2

Abstract

Here, we present the North American Repository for Archaeological Isotopes (NARIA), the largest open-access compilation of previously reported isotopic measurements (n = 28,374) from bioarchaeological samples in North America (i.e., Canada, Greenland, Mexico, and the United States of America) covering a time-frame of more than 12,000 years. This database consists of stable (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, δ¹⁸O) and radiogenic (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) isotope measurements from archaeological human, animal, and plant sources and their corresponding contextual information (e.g., location, chronology, cultural affiliation, etc.). This synthesis of isotopic measurements and other forms of data presents significant research potential for investigating past human lifeways, particularly in the realms of paleomobility, paleoenvironment, and paleodiet. Additionally, it serves to pinpoint spatial and temporal data gaps, offering valuable insights for future research directions.

Publication types

Dataset

MeSH terms

Animals
Archaeology*
Carbon Isotopes / analysis
Humans
Nitrogen Isotopes / analysis
North America
Oxygen Isotopes / analysis
Plants / chemistry
Strontium Isotopes / analysis

Substances

Carbon Isotopes
Strontium Isotopes
Nitrogen Isotopes
Oxygen Isotopes