Workshop by Edeltraud Aspöck, Reinhard Jung, Katharina Rebay-Salisbury, Estella Weiss-Krejci

The application of stable isotope analyses of human remains has gained great momentum among archaeologists in recent years. New challenges arose in tandem with technical advances and first enthusiasm has given way to more cautious approaches. For this reason OREA is organizing a workshop that aims at Austrian researchers who are planning to integrate isotope analyses in their work. Drawing from the experience of experts, this workshop will explore potentials and limitations of isotope studies of human remains in case studies from European prehistory. The discussion is intended to address questions in order to maximise the potential of isotope applications, for instance:

• which research questions can be answered by isotope analyses (e.g. migration, age of weaning, composition of diet, etc.)
• what are the limitations of the methods and how reliable are the results
• how to select good case studies (which regions of Europe and the Near East are especially suitable or unsuitable for further investigations)
• how to best integrate isotope analyses in the project planning

We further aim to think about the direction in which isotope analyses of human remains will develop and how to phrase cutting-edge research questions that push the boundaries of the current methodologies. We aim at an open, discussion-friendly format, with 15 to 20 min papers and plenty of room for questions and answers. The workshop will prepare the groundwork for a follow-up conference planned for 2017.

 Programme