Quentin Cooper talks to Oxford bioarchaeologist DrTamsin O'Connell about her search for chemical signatures left by food in ancient bone. Analysis of bone collagen not only reveals a surprising amount about our ancient diet, it also gives us information about broader questions of demography, economy and environment. To help her interpretation of palaeodiets, DrO'Connell is also collecting information about contemporary diets. Understandably, living subjects are reluctant to surrender bone collagen, but Dr
O'Connell has discovered that the hair protein, keratin and exhaled carbon dioxide provide good information about isotopic residues. Producer John Watkins. E-MAIL: scirad@bbc.ac.uk
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