Using dental enamel to uncover the impact of childhood diet on mortality in Petra, Jordan

Abstract

Isotopic investigations of diet can provide unique perspectives into food acquisition in addition to dietary choices and shifts through the human life course. Here we examine childhood diet at first century B.C. and first century A.D. Petra through carbon and oxygen isotope ratios (δ13C and δ18O) in dental enamel apatite. Isotope values from the first molars (n = 31), first premolars (n = 20), and second molars (n = 29) were compared to track dietary shifts and characterize water sources from birth until approximately 7 years of age. These isotope values also were assessed by age-at-death to outline the life history impacts of childhood feeding strategies. The childhood diet at Petra generally contained a higher contribution of C4 sources than adults, represented by 29 bone apatite samples, although the level of this contribution and/or the age they were incorporated and removed from the childhood diet varied greatly within the sample. Similarly, heterogeneity in δ18O across tooth classes seems to reflect variation in water source and potential heat alteration rather than a mother-infant isotopic offset. However, these different strategies did not contribute to varied childhood mortality.