The Ice Man's diet as reflected by the stable nitrogen and carbon isotopiccomposition of his hair

Establishing the diets of ancient human populations is an integral componen t of most archaeological studies. Stable isotope analysis of well-preserved bone collagen is the most direct approach for a general assessment of pale odiet, However, this method has been limited by the scarcity of well-preser ved skeletal materials for this type of destructive analysis. Hair is prese rved in many burials, but is often overlooked as an alternative material fo r isotopic analysis. Here we report that the stable carbon and nitrogen iso tope values for the hair of the 5200 year-old Ice Man indicates a primarily vegetarian diet, in agreement with his dental wear pattern. Whereas previo us investigations have focused on bone collagen, the stable isotope composi tion of hair may prove to be a more reliable proxy for paleodiet reconstruc tion, particularly when skeletal remains are not well preserved and additio nal archaeological artifacts are unavailable.