International Journal of Osteoarchaeology

Int. J. Osteoarchaeol. 13: 3745 (2003)

Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/oa.654
Sulphur Isotopes in Palaeodietary
Studies: a Review and Results from a
Controlled Feeding Experiment
M. P. RICHARDS,
a
* B. T. FULLER,
b,c
M. SPONHEIMER,
d,e
T. ROBINSON
f
AND L. AYLIFFE
e
a
Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, West
Yorkshire, UK
b
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford,
Oxford, UK
c
Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
d
Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
e
Department of Geology & Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
f
Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo,
Utah, USA
ABSTRACT Recent advances in mass spectrometry now allow relatively routine measurements of sulphur
isotopes (
34
S) in small samples (>10 mg) of tissue from archaeological human, plant, and faunal
samples.
34
S values of human and faunal bone collagen can indicate residence or migration
and can provide palaeodietary information. Here we present a review of applications of sulphur
isotopes to archaeological materials, and we also present preliminary results from one of the
few controlled feeding experiments undertaken for sulphur isotopes. This study indicates that
there is relatively little fractionation (1) between diet and body protein (keratin)
34
S values
for modern horses on a protein adequate C
3
plant diet. In contrast, horses fed a possible low
protein C
4
feed have a diet to hair fractionation of +4 that could be the result of the input of
endogenous sulphur from the recycling of body proteins. Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons,
Ltd.
Key words: stable isotopes; sulphur; migration; palaeodiet; collagen; keratin
Introduction
There have been relatively few applications of
sulphur isotopes to archaeological organic mate-
rial, such as bone collagen or hair keratin. This
is due to the time-consuming laboratory prepara-
tion and large sample sizes traditionally required.
Recent advances in mass spectrometry now allow
measurement of sulphur isotope values in rela-
tively small organic samples with much simpler
sample preparation methods, permitting routine
*
Correspondence to: Department of Archaeological Sciences,
University of Bradford, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD7 1DP, UK.
e-mail: M.P.Richards@Bradford.ac.uk
sulphur isotope analysis in conjunction with anal-
ysis of carbon and nitrogen isotopes (Richards
et al., 2001).
The stable isotope composition of sulphur
(
34
S) in human and faunal tissues reects the
34
S
values of foods consumed. Local food web
34
S
values are controlled by the
34
S values of under-
lying local bedrock, atmospheric deposition, and
microbial processes active in soils. Therefore, like
strontiumand lead isotopes in bone mineral (Sealy
et al., 1995; Price et al., 2000), human and faunal
sulphur isotope values can be used to establish
the local food web sulphur isotope values. These
Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Accepted 25 September 2002
38 M. P. Richards et al.
values can then be used to identify local and extra-
local (migrants) individuals in a region, providing
the extra-local individuals were from a locality
with sufciently different environmental
34
S val-
ues. Additionally,
34
S values have the potential to
provide palaeodietary information supplementary
to
13
C and
15
N measurements perhaps indi-
cating the consumption of freshwater resources.
Below we review the environmental factors that
inuence
34
S values, as well as review the few
measurements of
34
S in human tissue.
There are few published controlled feeding
experiments that have measured
34
S fraction-
ation between diet and consumer tissue
34
S
values for mammals. Clearly, this fractionation
must be established before
34
S can be used to
track migration, residential mobility or diet. We
report here preliminary results from a controlled
feeding experiment where
34
S values of horse
hair and diet were measured for two individuals
that were fed C
3
and C
4
diets.
Sulphur isotopes in plants and animals
There are four stable isotopes of sulphur:
32
S(95.02%),
33
S(0.75%),
34
S(4.21%), and
36
S(0.02%) (Trust &Fry, 1992). The ratio between
the two most abundant isotopes,
32
S and
34
S
is dened as the
34
S value which is measured
relative to the meteorite standard Canyon Diablo
Troilite (now the Vienna CDT) (Coplen &
Krouse, 1998). Sulphur is an abundant element.
There are two signicant isotopically uniform S
reservoirs: the earths metallic core, with a
34
S
value near 0, and oceanic sulphate (SO
4

),
with a
34
S value near +20. Sedimentary rocks
are the largest reservoir of sulphur near the
earths surface, but isotopic values for sedimentary
sulphur are highly variable depending on rock
type and age (Faure, 1977). Plants receive the
majority of their sulphur through their roots as
sulphate, which is derived from the weathering
of local geological formations. Plants can also
obtain sulphur fromthe atmosphere by wet or dry
deposition. Wet deposition is the incorporation
of sulphur falling to earth in water droplets from
sea spray or acid rain (H
2
SO
4
), whereas dry
deposition results from the uptake of SO
2
gas.
The amount of atmospheric sulphur absorbed
varies depending upon location and plant species,
but in some cases 25 to 35% of the plants sulphur
can be obtained in this way even if there are
adequate amounts of soil sulphate (Brady & Weil,
1999). Once obtained by the plant, most sulphur
is stored in organic molecules such as amino acids
and sulphate esters. The
34
S value of plants is
variable depending upon location and geology,
with values falling between the extremes of 22
to +22 (Peterson & Fry, 1987).
In animals, sulphur is an essential element for
growth and survival that must be obtained from
the diet. It is predominantly found in the amino
acids of cysteine, methionine, and taurine as
well as in various vitamins and cofactors such
as thiamine, vitamin B, biotin, and coenzyme A.
In modern and archaeological bone, sulphur is
distributed throughout the inorganic matrix as
calcium sulphate (CaSO
4
) and within the protein
collagen as methionine with a frequency of ve
residues per 1000 (Eastoe, 1955). The sulphur
in hair is primarily derived from the amino acid
cysteine (112 residues per 1000) although there
is a small contribution from methionine (ve
residues per 1000) (Valkovic, 1977).
There are signicant differences among the

34
S values of plant and animal specimens
from freshwater and marine ecosystems. Modern
marine organisms have
34
S values close to +20
whereas freshwater organisms can have a wide
range of
34
S values, between 22 to +22
(Peterson & Fry, 1987; Mekhtiyeva et al., 1976).
The wide range of freshwater
34
S values is largely
due to the reduction of sulphate ions (SO
4

) to
hydrogen sulphide (H
2
S) by anaerobic bacteria
that dwell in the sediments of rivers and lakes
(Faure, 1977). These anaerobic bacteria generate
energy for survival by using sulphate in place
of molecular oxygen as an electron acceptor
during the oxidation of organic matter. Since
it is thermodynamically easier to break a
32
SO
bond versus a
34
SO bond, the nal H
2
S that is
excreted is signicantly depleted in
34
S. In some
cases this
34
S depletion can reach 50depending
upon season and environmental conditions such
as moisture, aeration, temperature, and pH
(Faure, 1977).
This difference between freshwater and marine

34
S values has been used in a number of modern
ecological studies, for example to discriminate
Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Osteoarchaeol. 13: 3745 (2003)
Sulphur Isotopes in Palaeodietary Studies 39
between lake dwelling and migratory ocean sh
that co-existed in freshwater lakes in northern
Canada (Hesslein et al., 1991). A food web
analysis of modern fauna from the Canadian
Arctic was able to distinguish between continental
(terrestrial) and coastal (marine) based diets using
solely
34
S values (Krouse & Herbert, 1988).
Terrestrial animals and birds had values less
than +10 whereas mammals from more marine
environments, such as polar bears, had values
ranging between +16 and +18 reecting their
consumption of seals.
While these studies show the potential of
using sulphur isotopic analysis in (palaeo)dietary
research, it should be noted that
34
S values
do not necessarily reect consumption of marine
protein, as they can also register the proximity
of the dietary protein source to the sea. This is
a result of the so-called sea spray effect, which
can carry sulphur particles inland and cause the
coastal soil
34
S values to be similar to those of the
ocean (Wadleigh et al., 1994). In some cases this
sea spray effect may only extend a few kilometers
inland from the ocean (Robinson, 1987). In other
cases, entire islands (e.g., New Zealand) can have
soil
34
S values related to those of marine water
(Kusakabe et al., 1976). In order to help distinguish
between the consumption of marine resources
and proximity to the ocean in an archaeological
population,
13
C and
15
N measurements must
be made in conjunction with
34
S values.
The eld of study where sulphur isotopic
analysis may have its greatest impact is in the
detection of residence and migration within a
population. Geochemical research indicates that

34
Svalues are heavily dependent ongeographical
location, which is a reection of the local
geology and atmospheric sulphur composition
of the area (Faure, 1977; Krouse & Herbert 1988;
Brownlow, 1996). This geographically distinct

34
S isotopic signature was used in conjunction
with
15
N measurements to assign the origin
of milk samples from alpine regions in Europe
(Rossmann et al., 1998). The study found that
the
34
S values obtained from the milk protein
casein were similar to the
34
S values of soils
from the area in which the cattle were grazed. In
addition, cattle that had grazed on soils that were
similar in geological age had similar milk
34
S
values. Krouse & Herbert (1988) also observed
a large variation in
34
S from migratory moose
in the Canadian Arctic, which they attributed to
variations in the local geology along the migration
routes. Katzenberg & Krouse (1989) conducted a
study of the potential of
34
S and
13
C isotopes
to discriminate between modern humans from
various geographical locations. They obtained
human hair samples from ve different countries
(Brazil, India, Japan, Canada, and Australia) and
plotted the
34
S values versus the
13
C values.
While there was some overlap in the values, it was
possible to distinguish among the individuals from
different geographic regions, and they argued
that this type of analysis held promise as a
tool for identifying geographic origin in human
forensic studies.
Applications of sulphur isotopes to
archaeological material
There have only been a handful of applications
of sulphur isotope analysis in archaeology as
compared to the large body of data from
carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis. While
the importance of the information obtained
(or obtainable) from
34
S measurements was
realized by H.R. Krouse and others 15 years
ago (Krouse et al., 1987), the large sample size
needed and laborious methods employed for
organic samples limited the use of sulphur in
archaeological studies. In the past few years,
many of these problems have been solved and
it is now possible to conduct isotopic sulphur
analysis by continuous ow isotope ratio mass
spectrometry (CF-IRMS) (Giesemann et al., 1994;
Morrisonet al., 2000). The methodentails minimal
preparation (samples are placed in tin boats and
combusted) and the procedure is automated so
that many measurements can be made in a single
run. In addition, due to the decrease in the
number of extraction procedures, there is less
chance for fractionation during pretreatment. The
greatest advantage for archaeological research is
the reduction in sample size to ca. 10 mg of
puried bone collagen for a single measurement.
Using traditional methods of sulphur isotope
analysis, Macko et al. (1999) measured
34
S values
of hair (which has a much higher S content
than bone) from Egyptian and South American
Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Osteoarchaeol. 13: 3745 (2003)
40 M. P. Richards et al.
mummies. They found signicant differences in

34
S values from inland Egyptian and coastal
South American mummies. The majority of the
coastal South American mummy samples had high

34
S values (ca. 15), which could reect both a
marine diet, as well as a coastal location (due to
the sea spray effect). Analysis of
13
C and
15
N
values conrmed that high
34
S values were due at
least in part to consumption of marine food. The
inland Egyptian samples had
34
S values less than
10, which they argue is indicative of their more
inland location. Asimilar pattern of inland/coastal
differences in South American mummy samples
was found by Iverson et al. (1992).
For archaeological bone collagen (rather than
hair), the rst
34
S values were reported by Leach
et al. (1996) on a collection of human and animal
remains from several South Pacic archaeological
sites spanning the last 1000 years in age. This
pioneering study found a denite marine
34
S
signal in humans and fauna that subsisted on
marine protein and resided at coastal locations.
They also used
34
S values to distinguish between
a European who lived and died on the South Island
in the 19th century (+2), and a local Morori
who lived and died on the Chatham Islands (+14
to +17), thereby conrming the possibility
of detecting immigrants. In addition, this study
demonstrated that there is sufcient sulphur in
archaeological bone collagen for isotopic analysis,
and that the loss and degradation of methionine
had not compromised the integrity of the sulphur
isotopic composition.
The rst measurements conducted on small
samples of ancient bone collagen from European
archaeological sites were by Richards et al. (2001).
Using a Europa continuous owisotope ratio mass
spectrometer, 27 collagen samples ranging in age
from ca. 6500 BC to 1300 AD were analysed
from nine archaeological sites. The samples were
selected to determine how bone
34
S values were
related to archaeological and isotopic indications
of marine food consumption. The results showed
that all of the collagen samples obtained from
coastal regions had a clear
34
S marine signature
although only some of these had a marine
13
C
signal (indicating marine food diets). These data
further support the notion that for individuals
living close to the ocean,
34
S values alone are not
reliable indicators of marine protein consumption
(unless coupled with
13
Cor
15
Nmeasurements)
as a result of the sea spray effect. Measurements of
human bone collagen samples frominland regions
of England and the Ukraine did not have
34
S
marine signals but were consistent with predicted
local sedimentary sulphate values.
In addition to archaeological human collagen
measurements,
34
S values were obtained from
modern faunal collagen collected from around
the UK. The modern samples from England had
low
34
S values that were attributed to anthro-
pogenic sulphur pollution. The only modern
34
S
measurements that resembled those from archae-
ological materials were from less polluted areas of
coastal North Wales and the interior of northern
Scotland. Thus, it seems that archaeological mate-
rial could provide an effective source from which
to obtain baseline
34
S measurements for the
determination of the amount of sulphur pollution
within a region.
Sulphur isotope fractionation in
mammals
It is necessary to establish the degree, if any,
of fractionation between dietary and body tissue

34
S values, as well as an understanding of the
fractionation when geological sulphur enters the
biosphere. In marine, freshwater, and terrestrial
plants, there is only a slight isotopic fractionation
during sulphate incorporation and reduction.
Plants are typically depleted in
34
S by ca.
1.5 relative to their sulphate sources (Trust
& Fry, 1992). Like plants, there seems to be
little isotopic fractionation of sulphur in animals,
although there are few published studies on
this topic. Feeding experiments conducted on
gypsy moth caterpillars found a trophic level
shift in
34
S of +1.3, and brook trout had
a similar
34
S enrichment of +1.2 to +1.4
(Peterson et al., 1985). In a study of muscle tissue
and hair from bears and other animals from
Yellowstone National Park and British Columbia,
Kester et al. (2001) observed a slight depletion in

34
S between consumer and food source. To date
there has only been one controlled feeding study
that has measured the
34
S isotopic fractionation
between the diet and tissues of mammals. This
study used pigs fed isotopically known diets
Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Osteoarchaeol. 13: 3745 (2003)
Sulphur Isotopes in Palaeodietary Studies 41
(acorns or feed), and measured the liver
34
S
values from these animals (Gonz alez-Mart

in et al.,
2001). The results indicated that there was little
difference between dietary and liver
34
S values.
Katzenberg &Krouse (1989) have published the
only study that attempts to examine the amount of
fractionation between diet and tissue in humans.
They measured animal feed, meat, milk, eggs
and human hair from a Hutterite community in
Calgary, Canada. Since Hutterites tend to make
their own food rather than consume processed
food, they were viewed as an approximate closed
system. The
34
S values from animal feed and
humanfooditems rangedfrom0 to+5, whereas
the human hair samples had values near +3.
While the exact magnitude of the fractionation
was not obtained, this study demonstrated that it
was small in comparison to the
34
S values of the
diet. In addition, analysis of kidney stones and
other tissue samples from humans such as hair,
nails, blood and urine found that there was little

34
S variation (1 to 2) among tissues of the
same individual (Krouse et al., 1987).
Sulphur isotope fractionation in
modern horses on a controlled diet
Here, we present the rst results from our on-
going study to measure the degree of diet-tissue

34
S fractionation in mammals in a controlled
feeding experiment, undertaken as part of the
larger Stable Isotope Biology (SIB) project, which
is a joint venture of Brigham Young University
and the University of Utah. For this study we
fed two adult horses (the male Dandy and the
female Sassy) three different controlled hay diets
over a period of nine months. The horses were
housed in a covered enclosure and had no access
to other food sources during the period of the
experiment. Temperature changed dramatically
during the experiment, but was not correlated
with stable carbon, nitrogen, or sulphur isotope
values (Sponheimer, unpublished data). Neither
horse was reproductively active during the course
of the experiment. Hay and water were provided
ad libitum. The study began with both horses on a
local Utahgrass hay diet (Bromus inermis), a C
3
plant
(
34
S 10.8) with 9% crude protein. They
only stayed on these initial diets for seven weeks,
however, as they had been consuming a similar
local hay for the previous several years, so they
were largely equilibrated with the diet before the
advent of the study. After this acclimation period,
the horses were switched to an isonitrogenous
grass hay from near the California/Mexico border
(Cynodon dactylon), a C
4
plant, that had a different

34
S value (
34
S 1.9). They remained on
this diet for a period of 21 weeks, which was more
than ample time for diet-hair isotope equilibration
in nitrogen (Sponheimer et al., 2002). Both horses
were then switched to a high-protein (19% crude
protein) local Utah alfalfa hay (Medicago sativa),
a C
3
plant, with a sulphur isotope composition
that was nearly identical to that of the initial local
hay (
34
S 10.5). They remained on this diet
for another 19 weeks until the completion of the
experiment, at which point tail hair was obtained
from each individual.
While many strands of tail hair were obtained
from each individual, we only present data from
one strand for each individual in this paper. The
tail hairs of Dandy and Sassy were pre-treated
with a 2 : 1 chloroform:methanol soak for 6 h
at room temperature, after which the samples
were rinsed in deionized water and then dried at
approximately 40

C overnight. Individual hairs

were cut into 1.5 cm sections starting at the skin
end (sample number 1) for
34
S measurement
(Table 1). Sample pretreatment was undertaken
at the stable isotope laboratory at the Department
of Archaeological Sciences, University of Brad-
ford, UK, and isotope measurements were made
at Iso-Analytical, Cheshire, UK. Each hair strand
had approximately 45% sulphur, and the repro-
ducibility on seven measurements of the standard
IAEA-S and seven measurements of the standard
NBS 1577A were between 0.20.3(1).
As can been seen in Figure 1, there are clear
trends in both horses. The data from Dandy are
clearer, because Dandys hair grew more slowly
and all three diets are in evidence. In contrast,
the 18 cm analysed for Sassy were not sufcient
to capture the initial experimental diet, thus only
the nal two diets are in evidence. For Dandy, for
hair sections older than section nine (section ten
and greater), when the experiment began, we can
see a clear equilibration with local hay
34
S. After
this section there is a sharp decrease in
34
S,
indicative of the change from the local Bromus hay
Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Osteoarchaeol. 13: 3745 (2003)
42 M. P. Richards et al.
Table 1.
34
S and %S values for tail hair segments of two horses, Dandy and Sassy as well as three types of feed.
Errors on the
34
S measurements are 0.3(1)
Sample number Sulphur content
(%)

34
S
()
Sample number Sulphur content
(%)

34
S
()
MSS Dandy 1 4.74 6.00 MSS Dandy 30 4.26 8.45
MSS Dandy 2 4.78 9.15 MSS Dandy 31 4.31 8.62
MSS Dandy 3 4.45 8.97 MSS Dandy 32 4.29 8.72
MSS Dandy 4 4.20 8.50 MSS Dandy 33 4.37 9.18
MSS Dandy 5 4.40 7.37 MSS Dandy 34 4.52 9.04
MSS Dandy 6 4.68 3.05 MSS Sassy 1 4.34 6.29
MSS Dandy 7 4.88 1.90 MSS Sassy 2 4.60 5.19
MSS Dandy 8 4.65 2.34 MSS Sassy 3 4.54 8.69
MSS Dandy 9 4.69 3.60 MSS Sassy 4 3.98 9.47
MSS Dandy 10 4.89 3.46 MSS Sassy 5 4.46 8.68
MSS Dandy 11 4.64 10.31 MSS Sassy 6 4.23 8.25
MSS Dandy 12 3.73 11.02 MSS Sassy 7 4.06 7.93
MSS Dandy 13 4.50 10.33 MSS Sassy 8 4.74 9.28
MSS Dandy 14 4.34 9.95 MSS Sassy 9 4.29 5.45
MSS Dandy 15 4.06 10.07 MSS Sassy 10 4.38 1.96
MSS Dandy 16 4.12 10.06 MSS Sassy 11 4.39 1.28
MSS Dandy 17 4.10 10.41 MSS Sassy 12 4.39 1.52
MSS Dandy 18 4.34 9.85 MSS Sassy 13 4.46 1.56
MSS Dandy 19 4.27 9.56 MSS Sassy 14 4.71 2.34
MSS Dandy 20 4.42 9.18 Medicago sativa (C
3
) 0.15 10.71
MSS Dandy 21 4.56 8.72 Medicago sativa (C
3
) 0.15 10.76
MSS Dandy 22 4.45 8.62 Medicago sativa (C
3
) 0.15 10.02
MSS Dandy 23 4.22 9.03 Cynodon dactylon (C
4
) 0.58 2.00
MSS Dandy 24 4.50 11.36 Cynodon dactylon (C
4
) 0.91 1.82
MSS Dandy 25 4.49 10.89 Cynodon dactylon (C
4
) 0.70 1.79
MSS Dandy 26 4.29 10.52 Bromus inermis (C
3
) 0.28 10.58
MSS Dandy 27 4.47 9.39 Bromus inermis (C
3
) 0.28 11.18
MSS Dandy 28 4.44 8.97 Bromus inermis (C
3
) 0.26 10.51
MSS Dandy 29 4.28 8.62
-5
-4
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36
Hair section (1.5 cm each)

3
4
S
Dandy
Sassy
Scalp
Bromus inermis C
3
Medicago sativa C
3
Cynodon dactylon C
4
Most recent hair
Dietary change reflected in hair
Older hair
Time
Figure 1.
34
S values of tail hair segments from the horses Dandy and Sassy.
34
S values of diets are indicated on the graph.
Errors on the
34
S measurements are 0.3 (1).
Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Osteoarchaeol. 13: 3745 (2003)
Sulphur Isotopes in Palaeodietary Studies 43
to the California/Mexico Cynodon hay. The hair

34
S reaches its lowest point at segment 6, after
which it dramatically increases when the diet was
changed to local Utah Medicago hay. Eventually,
the hair
34
S values became close to those of the
Medicago hay, but were still depleted by about
1. An almost identical pattern is observed
for Sassy, although the hair records only the
Cynodon hay diet and the subsequent switch to the
Medicago hay.
Bothdata sets clearly demonstrate large changes
in hair
34
S values as the horses feeds were
switched through time. Interestingly, however,
these data seem to indicate that diet-hair frac-
tionation is not constant on all diets. Most
conspicuously, it appears that when the diets
were switched to the Cynodon hay, their hair was
enriched in
34
S by nearly 4 (but see discus-
sion below). When switched to the local Medicago
hay, however, hair values approached, but never
reached dietary
34
S values, suggesting a diet hair
fractionation of about 1 for these horses. We
only have data from Dandy on the local Bro-
mus hay, and hair values and dietary
34
S values
appear nearly identical when on this hay. Thus,
there appears to be a large diet-hair fractionation
when horses are consuming Cynodon hay, but rel-
atively little fractionation when they are on either
of the local hays. This change in fractionation
is not associated with temperature changes dur-
ing the course of the experiment (Sponheimer,
unpublished data). One possible explanation for
this patterning is that, even though the Cynodon
and Bromus hays were isonitrogenous, digestible
protein was lower for the Cynodon hay than either
of the local hays. There is some support for this
as both horses lost body mass when on this diet.
This might have led to increased recycling of their
body proteins, which had been formed while on
a local diet.
The sulphur in hair is primarily derived from
cysteine and methionine. As cysteine is a non-
essential amino acid, it can be synthesized from
other amino acids, serine and methionine. The
unusually high diet-hair fractionation seen during
the consumption of Cynodon hay could have been
the result of contributions from endogenous
34
S-
enriched sulphur atoms from methionine to form
cysteine. If this explanation is correct, it means
that the true diet-hair equilibriumwouldhave only
been obtained once all of the horses metabolically
active tissues had turned over. In contrast, when
on nutritionally adequate diets there appears to
be a direct routing of the sulphur in cysteine and
methionine from the diet to hair protein.
While this study provides new experimental
data for the magnitude of diet-hair fractionation of
sulphur isotopes in large mammalian herbivores,
it is apparent that it only begins to address this
question for mammalian herbivores in general,
much less for omnivorous or carnivorous species.
Future studies are needed in which multiple
taxa are raised on isotopically homogenous
diets from birth, which would eliminate the
protein recycling that has proven problematic
here. Ideally, such studies would also test the
potential impact of feeding animals diets with
differing amounts of protein, or more specically,
different amounts of sulphur-containing amino
acids such as cysteine and methionine. It is
likely that diets that are decient in sulphur
containing amino acids will have very different
fractionation patterns (endogenous synthesis)
compared to diets that have adequate levels of
cysteine and methionine (direct routing from diet
to tissue).
Discussion and conclusions
We have presented a review of sulphur isotopes
in the environment and their application to
archaeological studies. In addition, we have
argued that
34
S measurements can provide
supplementary palaeodietary evidence to
13
C
and
15
N measurements, and have the potential
to identify migration and residence locality in the
archaeological record. Finally, we have presented
the results of one of the few controlled mammal
feeding experiments and observed that there is
minimal (1)
34
S fractionation between diet
and consumer hair on a nutritionally adequate
C
3
diet. On a C
4
diet that is likely to be
low in digestible protein we observed a
34
S
fractionationof +4, whichcouldbe the result of
sulphur recycling from body proteins in addition
to dietary sulphur intake. Future studies on animals
that are raised on known
34
S diets from birth are
needed to support or challenge the fractionation
patterns seen in this study.
Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Osteoarchaeol. 13: 3745 (2003)
44 M. P. Richards et al.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Gundula M uldner for
help with sample preparation. We are indebted
to Steve Brookes and Ian Begley at Isoanalytical
for measuring the
34
S values and to Paul Koch
for helpful suggestions and editing. We also want
to thank Thure Cerling, Denise Dearing, Jim
Ehleringer, Jordan Hammer, Yasmin Rahman, and
Bev Roeder.
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