Stable Isotope Provenance of Unidentified Deceased Migrants—A Pilot Study-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

Stable Isotope Provenance of Unidentified Deceased Migrants—A Pilot Study

Published:2023-10-26 Issue:11 Volume:12 Page:1371
ISSN:2079-7737
Container-title:Biology
language:en
Short-container-title:Biology

Author:

Obertová Zuzana¹²,Skrzypek Grzegorz³^ORCID,Danišík Martin⁴,Rankenburg Kai⁴,Cummaudo Marco¹,Olivieri Lara¹,Mazzarelli Debora¹,Cappella Annalisa¹^ORCID,Evans Noreen⁴,Ubelaker Douglas⁵,Cattaneo Cristina¹

Affiliation:

1. Department of Biomedical and Health Sciences, University of Milan, 20133 Milan, Italy

2. Centre for Forensic Anthropology, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley 6009, Australia

3. West Australian Biogeochemistry Centre, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley 6009, Australia

4. School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University, Bentley 6102, Australia

5. Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC 20560, USA

Abstract

In the global migration crisis, one of the challenges in the effort to identify deceased migrants is establishing their region of origin, which facilitates the search for ante mortem data to be compared with the post mortem information. This pilot study explores the potential of using stable isotope analysis to distinguish between individuals coming from West Africa and the Horn of Africa. Six individuals (four of known origin and two of unknown origin) were sampled. δ13CVPDB(keratin), δ15NVPDB(keratin) and δ18OVSMOW(keratin) of hair were analysed using Elemental Analyzers coupled with Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS). δ18OVSMOW(carbonate) and δ13CVPDB(carbonate) of bone were analysed using GasBench II with IRMS, while 87Sr/86Sr composition was determined in bone and dental enamel using laser ablation multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The stable isotope compositions of the individual from the Horn of Africa differed from the other individuals. The differences found between 87Sr/86Sr of enamel and bone and between δ18O and δ13C in bone and hair reflect changes in sources of food and water in accordance with regionally typical migration journeys. The analysis of multiple stable isotopes delivered promising results, allowing us to narrow down the region of origin of deceased migrants and corroborate the information about the migration journey.

Funder

American Academy of Forensic Science Humanitarian and Human Rights Resource Center

Australian Geophysical Observing System grant

Australian Research Council LIEF program

Publisher

MDPI AG

Subject

General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Immunology and Microbiology,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Link

https://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/12/11/1371/pdf

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