CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Assigning human remains to a specific region or population of origin is of uttermostimportance in forensic investigations. Stable isotope (SI) analysisof hair offers a tool to enhance the biological profile and reconstruct themovements of unidentified decedents, as well as to exclude possible matches andnarrow search areas. The Hydrogen, Oxygen,Carbon, Nitrogen, and Sulfur isotope compositions of drinking water and foodsare reflected in our hair, recording their geographic and dietary information.Thus, human hair is a continuous linear recorder of location and diet thatallows us to reconstruct chronological histories that span weeks to months. The capability to use SI as a provenancing tooldepends on a thorough knowledge of their spatial distribution and quality ofthe data used in building the foundational predictive models. Here we present geographic patterns of SI distribution todiscuss their use in forensic analyses. Wefocused first on how O and H isotope ratios vary across the landscape and how aprocess-based model developed for the USA can be applied to predictgeographical origin of samples. Second, we present the spatial distributionsof ?dietary isotopes? (C, N, S) that could be used todistinguish regions, populations and individuals. We present comparisonsbetween North America and Europe, as well as geographic trends within thesecontinents. Finally, we discuss howwithin cities (Salt Lake City, USA; Cali, Colombia) cultural and socioeconomicaspects could lead to differences on hair isotope signatures and whether thatmay form the basis for small scale origin assignment.

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