Using stable isotope mixing models (SIMMs) to quantify past diets is becoming increasingly common in archaeology. This study highlights important field-specific difficulties encountered by archaeologists in reconstructing palaeodiets using SIMMs. Focusing on the data acquisition stage, we discuss several issues that could confound dietary quantification if not accounted for. These issues are categorized under several broad categories: diagenesis, intra-individual variability, representativeness of both the consumers and sources, and other commonly encountered field-specific problems. We summarize these issues with a flow chart to help archaeologists to select the most appropriate samples for dietary reconstruction using SIMMs, thereby decreasing the probability that the outputs of the SIMM are inaccurate. We conclude by discussing the ways in which SIMMs may not be appropriate for all archaeological contexts, highlighting those areas that are likely to be the most problematic for end users.

在考古学中，使用稳定的同位素混合模型（SIMM）量化过去的饮食已变得越来越普遍。这项研究突出了考古学家在使用SIMM重建古生物学时遇到的重要领域难题。在数据获取阶段，我们讨论了几个问题，如果不加以考虑，这些问题可能会使饮食定量混淆。这些问题分为以下几大类：成岩作用，个体内部变异性，消费者和来源的代表性以及其他常见的现场特定问题。我们用流程图总结了这些问题，以帮助考古学家使用SIMM选择最合适的样品进行膳食重建，从而降低SIMM输出不准确的可能性。