| The aim of this thesis is to examine the viability of stable isotope analysis to determine geographic origin of human remains in western Canada. This is achieved through stable carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and strontium isotope analysis of hair, nail and teeth of people living in Chilliwack, British Columbia and Calgary, Alberta. Intra-population variation is examined to understand the baseline for each location. Dietary differences (i.e. amount of animal protein) account for most of the variation within populations. Inter-population differences seem to be due to dietary differences between regions, perhaps reflecting different sources of food and water between the study locations. A discriminant function is developed that successfully classifies 84.3% of participants using the original sample and 79.5% using a cross-validation sample. The success of this function demonstrates the potential of this identification technique in western Canada and supports the presence of regional variation despite a tendency towards a globally homogenized diet. |
