Single-Compound Isotopic Analysis of Organic Materials in Archaeology

Isotopic analysis of archaeological materials provides information on age and source, but analysis of single compounds isolated from artefacts can provide more accurate measurements and additional details. In this article, the authors provide a review of chromatographic separations of archaeological biomolecules for their analysis using accelerator mass spectrometry or isotope ratio mass spectrometry. The article concentrates primarily on studies involving carbon and nitrogen.