Geographic origins of a War of 1812 skeletal sample integrating oxygen and strontium isotopes with GIS-based multi-criteria evaluation analysis

Abstract

The oxygen and strontium isotope composition of human bones and teeth are used to investigate human geographic origins and mobility in the archaeological record. We measured the oxygen (18O/16O) and strontium (87Sr/86Sr) isotope ratios in 14 teeth and 22 bone sections from 19th century soldiers who died in the Battle of Stoney Creek, Ontario, and were buried in a commingled mass grave at Smith's Knoll. To spatially locate the tooth isotope data we generated overlay maps of the eastern United States and Great Britain based on regional 87Sr/86Sr and meteoric precipitation δ18O variation. To do this, we employed a new method to visualize the isotopic information using GIS-based Multi-Criteria Evaluation analysis (GIS-MCE), a computational algorithm yet to be applied to stable isotope migration research. Our data confirm historic information concerning the areas from which American and British soldiers originated or were recruited, namely from the mid- to northerly latitude United States and Great Britain. This approach revealed the probable identity of at least one British soldier, and possibly one American soldier within the Smith's Knoll assemblage, making it the first archaeological study to provide substantial evidence for the identity of individuals interred in a mass grave. Our analysis highlights a new way to integrate isotopic and geophysical data through GIS-MCE technology to locate the most likely place of origin of individuals in a skeletal sample.