Stable isotopes of lighter elements are frequently used to understand diet and ecology of ancient population in the western world. In India however, in spite of the infrastructure being available for stable isotope analysis, its usage to date is limited to geological and oceanographical studies. Its applications in investigating archaeological questions are still uncommon. Stable isotopes can be used to satisfy various hypotheses pertaining to an archaeological site in multiple ways. In this article, taking two recent stable isotope studies into consideration (one based on human teeth and another on faunal teeth), the scope and limitations of use of stable isotope analysis in archaeology are extended in detail. The differences in selection of samples, sampling procedures, methodologies and interpretations while working on human as against faunal teeth are discussed discretely. Publisher's note: The citations and reference for Kalwankar (2013) were originally published with the incorrect date, and they have been corrected on 25/09/2020.

中文翻译：

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印度考古学中稳定同位素分析的范围和局限性

较轻元素的稳定同位素经常用于了解西方世界古代人口的饮食和生态。但是，在印度，尽管可以使用稳定的同位素分析基础设施，但迄今为止，其使用仅限于地质和海洋学研究。它在调查考古问题中的应用仍然很少见。稳定同位素可以多种方式用于满足与考古现场有关的各种假设。在本文中，考虑到两项近期的稳定同位素研究（一项基于人类牙齿，另一项基于动物牙齿），详细扩展了在考古学中使用稳定同位素分析的范围和局限性。样本选择，抽样程序，分别讨论了针对人类和动植物牙齿的工作方法和解释。发行人的注释：Kalwankar（2013）的引用和参考文献最初的发布日期不正确，并于2020年9月25日得到更正。