Where you grew up, what you ate — your bones record your life

Archaeologists use isotopic analysis to determine population movements and diets from chemical signatures in ancient human remains.

What's on your plate? The answer doesn’t just matter for your next dinner — it’s an issue of critical importance to archaeologists, who can infer everything from individual diets to large-scale population movements based on the chemistry of an ancient bone sample. Stable isotope analysis, the study of the nuances of elements in archaeological materials, can unlock all sorts of secrets about climate, diet, and the geographical origins of bones and other materials. Read more.