Strontium Stable Isotopes and Trace Elements Analysis of Skeletons in the Iron Age Cemetery of Blue Mosque in Tabriz

Stable isotope analysis, being used in many research areas, has also been applied in archaeology during the last three decades to address questions regarding the paleoclimatology and ancient diet, mobility and migration. Despite the growing number of the application of stable isotope analysis in archaeological studies, there is a very few research in this regard in archaeology of Iran. This research aims to study the human skeleton remains of Iron Age site of Masjed Kabud in Tabriz, using strontium stable isotope analysis. Therefore, tooth and bone samples obtained from skeletons of the mentioned site where studied through strontium isotope ratio (87Sr/86Sr) and trace element analysis Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca to address the question if the skeletons are local or non-local. Result of 87Sr/86Sr revealed that all samples could be considered as local except of 81-8 burial, which belongs to a female individual, as it was out of the local range (local mean ± 2 SD). The result of trace element analysis and measuring the Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca were analyzed statistically suing independent test sample. Results for both sample groups (Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca between teeth and bones) demonstrate that there is no significant difference between the two sample groups. Therefore skeletons could be considered as local. This research in addition to addressing the hypothesis, mentioned above, revealed that the method could be applied in similar research projects and the result of strontium isotope and trace element analysis could be also sued in different studies such as archaeology, geology and other interdisciplinary scientific areas.