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OBJECTIVES This study aims to assess if inter-island mobility can be identified during the Namu period (ca. 1,510-1800 AD) using 87 Sr/86 Sr analysis of dental enamel for individuals from the Namu burial ground on Taumako Island in the eastern Solomon Island Chain. Historic evidence from this region suggests that females migrated between the Duff, Reef, and Santa Cruz islands for marriage purposes. We hypothesize that observable trends in migrational (87 Sr/86 Sr) and dietary (δ13 C and δ15 N) isotopes can reveal the relationship between demographic factors, social status, diet, and female mobility on Taumako. METHODS This research analyzes enamel 87 Sr/86 Sr for 58 individuals in the Namu skeletal sample. The 87 Sr/86 Sr results were compared with published dietary isotope data (bone collagen and dentin δ13 C and δ15 N values) and type/number of grave goods to assess whether trends within the data may be related to sex, age, or burial wealth. RESULTS The results show that females display significantly higher 87 Sr/86 Sr values compared to males. One young adult female displayed a 87 Sr/86 Sr value that was +2SD outside the mean for the sampled individuals. A linear mixed-effects model and principle components analysis of 87 Sr/86 Sr, δ13 C, and δ15 N values suggest that wealth, sex, and age-cohort membership have an observable influence on the isotopic variation for the Taumako population. CONCLUSION We suggest that during the Namu period, Taumako was patrilocal and that some females migrated there from the nearby Santa Cruz and Reef islands. One female immigrated to Taumako from a geologically distinct region outside of the Duff, Reef, and Santa Cruz Island groups.

Objectives: Colonial period New Zealand was lauded as a land of plenty, where colonists could improve their station in life and secure a future for their families. Our understanding of colonial experience, however, is often shaped by historical records which communicate a state‐sponsored version of history. This study aims to reconstruct the lives of settlers using isotopic evidence from the colonial skeletons themselves. Materials and methods: We use skeletal remains from recently excavated colonial sites in Otago (South Island, New Zealand) to illustrate the information that can be gleaned from the isotopic analysis of individuals. We use 87Sr/86Sr to identify European settlers, and δ13C and δ15N from collagen and hair keratin, as well as dental enamel carbonate δ13C to trace dietary change over their life‐courses. Results: Strontium isotope analysis shows that all adults in our sample are non‐local. Dietary isotopes show that while most individuals had relatively consistent childhood diet, one individual with more rural origins likely had seasonal use of resources during childhood. While some members of the population seem to have increased their meat intake in the new colony most do not have clear evidence for this. Discussion: We show the diversity of human experience in first‐generation New Zealanders both prior to emigration and in the new colony. Despite colonial propaganda claiming that circumstances in New Zealand were improved for all settlers, we have little evidence for this, aside from among individuals of potentially high status.

Objectives The nature of the agricultural transition in Southeast Asia has been a topic of some debate for archaeologists over the past decades. A prominent model, known as the two-layer hypothesis, states that indigenous hunter-gatherers were subsumed by the expansion of exotic Neolithic farmers into the area around 2000 BC. These farmers had ultimate origins in East Asia and brought rice and millet agriculture. Ban Non Wat is one of the few archaeological sites in Southeast Asia where this model can potentially be tested. The site is located in the Mun River valley of Northeast Thailand, and divided into 12 phases that span over 2,000 years, from about 1750 BC to the end of the Iron Age (ca. 500 AD). These phases exhibit successive cultural changes, and current interpretation of the site is of an early hunter-gatherer population, with agriculturalists immigrating into the later phases. Methods We analyzed strontium, oxygen, and carbon isotopes in tooth enamel from over 150 individuals, dating from the Neolithic to Iron Age, to assess extrinsic origins and differences in diet between early and later phases. Results We find evidence of dietary and cultural differences between groups at Ban Non Wat during its early occupation, but little evidence for immigration from distinct environments beyond the Khorat Plateau of Northeast Thailand. Conclusions The lack of consistent isotopic differences between early and later Neolithic occupants at Ban Non Wat means that the site does not conclusively support the two-layer hypothesis. Am J Phys Anthropol 158:141–150, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.