Archaeology and ancient environmental studies

Radiocarbon dating and isotopic analysis give researchers a way to place ancient human activity in precise chronological and ecological context, revealing when and where early societies began cultivating plants, herding animals, and reshaping landscapes. By measuring ratios of carbon, nitrogen, and strontium isotopes preserved in bones, seeds, and organic residues, scientists can reconstruct what people ate, where they moved, and how domestication spread across continents over millennia. Much of the current work centers on refining global radiocarbon calibration curves to reduce dating uncertainty and on tracing the independent emergence of agriculture in regions like Southwest Asia, East Asia, and the Americas. Open questions remain around how climate fluctuations triggered or disrupted the transition to farming, and whether the chemical signatures in residues and skeletal material can reliably distinguish wild from managed species at the earliest stages of domestication.

Works

176,198

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1,081,233

Keywords

Radiocarbon DatingAgricultural OriginsIsotopic AnalysisDomestication StudiesArchaeological Residue AnalysisStable Isotope Analysis