Strontium and oxygen isotope baselines from multicomponent environmental analyses

The Carpathian Basin played a key role in the process of Neolithisation and the spread of early farming from the Balkans across Europe. Strontium and oxygen isotope analyses have proven to be useful tools to elucidate local human-environmental interaction, mobility, and dietary habits. However, the interpretation of these data requires a reliable local isotope baseline. This article integrates digitally processed environmental and bio-archaeologic data of 49 Neolithic sites to establish the first reliable site-specific and micro-regional baselines in Hungary, which enable the analyses of small samples based on comprehensive multivariate modelling and unique or similar catchment compositions.