From Stonehenge to the Gherkin

Isotope analysis of tooth enamel from humans is a rapidly developing technique for looking at the childhood origins of people from the past. It provides a direct measurement from the person and does not depend upon the assumption that artefacts within a burial provide a direct link with the person’s origins. In other words, just because some one is buried with a Scandinavian sword does not mean the person themselves was from Norway or Sweden; the sword might have been a prized possession won in battle. Isotopes can distinguish between these two possibilities.