Human provenance studies employing isotope analysis are essential in archaeological and forensic sciences but current applications provide limited spatial resolution. This study reports on the potential of neodymium isotope composition (¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd) to improve human provenancing capabilities. Human tissues contain very low (<0.1 ppm) neodymium concentrations, such that previous composition analysis was not possible. Additionally, Nd composition analysis in human enamel is hindered by Ca in the sample matrix. A modified Nd chromatographic separation technique is reported here, which removes large Ca quantities and accommodates large sample sizes (300–1000 mg). Verification of the modified chromatographic procedure was achieved using an internal synthetic tooth standard. These advancements allow for high precision Nd isotope composition analysis on ∼500 mg of tooth enamel, or >100 pg of Nd, by thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) using 10¹³ Ω resistors. Neodymium concentrations in enamel from third molars of modern Dutch residents range between 0.1–21.0 ppb (n = 23). The ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd values for Amsterdam (0.51204–0.51259, n = 12) and Rotterdam (0.51187–0.51239, n = 8) are significantly different (P value = 0.02), demonstrating the potential of neodymium isotope composition to provide improved spatial resolution. Further assessment of Nd composition in enamel of residents from other geological contexts is required to better understand the human provenance capabilities of neodymium.

中文翻译：

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钕的TIMS同位素分析使用10个人的牙釉质¹³ Ω放大器

采用同位素分析的人类起源研究在考古学和法医学中至关重要，但是当前的应用提供了有限的空间分辨率。这项研究报告了钕同位素组成的潜力（¹⁴³ Nd / ¹⁴⁴Nd），以提高人员出处的能力。人体组织中钕的浓度非常低（<0.1 ppm），因此不可能进行以前的成分分析。此外，样品基质中的Ca阻碍了人类牙釉质中Nd成分的分析。此处报道了一种改良的Nd色谱分离技术，该技术可去除大量的Ca，并能容纳较大的样品量（300–1000 mg）。使用内部合成牙齿标准品对改进的色谱程序进行了验证。这些进步允许通过热电离质谱法（TIMS）使用10 ¹³对约500 mg牙釉质或> 100 pg Nd进行高精度Nd同位素组成分析。Ω电阻。来自现代荷兰居民第三磨牙的牙釉质中钕的浓度范围为0.1–21.0 ppb（n = 23）。阿姆斯特丹（0.51204–0.51259，n = 12）和鹿特丹（0.51187–0.51239，n = 8）的¹⁴³ Nd / ¹⁴⁴ Nd值显着不同（P值= 0.02），表明钕同位素组成具有改善空间分布的潜力解析度。为了更好地了解钕的人类来源能力，需要从其他地质环境中进一步评估居民牙釉质中Nd的组成。