Cremated human remains are a rather neglected research substrate in physical anthropology; its investigation is still mainly restricted to the osteological level. The application of archaeometric methods to cremations is limited because the organic skeletal components are fully combusted at high temperatures. Stable isotope ratios of heavy elements such as strontium and lead, however, are thermally stable and permit research targeting questions of mobility, migration, and trade. In many cremations, neither dental remains nor the petrous bone are preserved. In such case, no skeletal element that retains the isotopic signature of childhood is available and compact bone has to be chosen instead. This raises interpretive problems, since due to its slow remodeling rate, compact bone integrates the element uptake over many years prior to death. This can generate a mixed isotope ratio in migrants. Such mixed ratios are no longer compatible with the place of origin, and not yet with the place of recovery. Provenance analysis with a single isotope ratio (mostly 87Sr/86Sr) therefore has its limits. A combination of strontium and lead stable isotopes in cremations generates a multi-dimensional isotopic fingerprint that is however more difficult to interpret. Data mining methods that permit a similarity search are a promising approach. In this paper, possibilities and limitations of stable isotope analysis of cremated finds are discussed together with the substrate-specific methodological and interpretive problems. The research potential is demonstrated by use of selected examples.

87Sr/86Sr isotopic ratios in skeletal remains of archaeological vertebrates are used for provenance analysis since long. However, the definition of the past bioavailable isotopic ratio at the site of recovery is not known beforehand and geological maps can provide no more than gross expectations. Therefore, the assessment of the "local Sr isotopic signature" is still of crucial importance. In this study, we present a tool for the prediction of such local isotopic signatures by creating a concentration weighted mixing model that links lithospheric, biospheric, and atmospheric strontium per site. The major strontium sources and their input into an animal's body were assessed by choosing elemental strontium and its isotopic signature in groundwater, soil, vegetation, and precipitation as components for the mixing model, augmented by literature values. The model was applied to 24 sites located in the alpine transect of the Inn-Eisack-Adige-Brenner passage across the European Alps, a passage used since the Mesolithic. Predicted local bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr ratios were compared with measured values from locally excavated archaeozoological bone samples from three taxa of large and mainly residential vertebrates (cattle, pig, red deer) to verify the models' accuracy. With regard to the fact that the environmental samples predict the past local bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr at a specific site while the vertebrates had different and species-specific home ranges, thereby integrating strontium from a region of primarily unknown size, the model is capable of assigning reasonable expectation values. For 11 sites, up to 100% of the vertebrate isotopic signatures were correctly predicted. Mismatches at the remaining sites are explainable by special environmental factors, and also the fact that some import of animals can never be excluded beforehand. Suggestions for site-specific adjustments of the model are made.

RationaleDue to the spatial heterogeneity of stable isotope ratios of single elements measured in attempts to georeference bioarchaeological finds, multi-isotope fingerprints are frequently employed under the assumption that similar isotopic signatures are indicative of similar shared environments by the individuals studied. The extraction of the spatial information from multi-isotope datasets, however, is challenging. MethodsGaussian mixture clustering of six- to seven-dimensional isotopic fingerprints measured in archaeological animal and human bones was performed. Uncremated animal bones served for an isotopic mapping of a specific reference area of eminent archaeological importance, namely the Inn-Eisack-Adige passage across the European Alps. The fingerprints consist of Sr-87/Sr-86, Pb-208/Pb-204, Pb-207/Pb-204, Pb-206/Pb-204, Pb-208/Pb-207, and Pb-206/Pb-207 ratios, and O-18(phosphate) values in uncremated bone apatite, while the thermally unstable O-18 values of human cremations from this region were discarded. ResultsThe bone finds were successfully decontaminated. Animal and human isotope clusters not only reflect individual similarities in the multi-isotopic fingerprints, but also permit a spatial allocation of the finds. This holds also for cremated finds where the O-18(phosphate) value is no longer informative. To our knowledge, for the first time Pb stable isotopes have been systematically studied in cremated skeletal remains and proved significant in a region that was sought after for its ore deposits in prehistory. ConclusionsGaussian mixture clustering is a promising method for the interpretation of multi-isotopic fingerprints aiming at detecting and quantifying migration and trade.

New geochronological U-Pb (LA-ICP-MS) zircon data and geochemical analyses from the Variscan orthogneisses and metavolcanic rocks in the western Tauern window are presented and used to reconstruct the pre-Alpine evolution of this area. The late- and post-Variscan stage in the Tauern window was characterised by distinct magmatic pulses accompanied by the formation of volcano-sedimentary basins. The magmatic activity started in the Visean (335.4 ± 1.5 Ma) with the intrusion of a K-rich, durbachitic biotite-granite (protolith of the Ahorn gneiss). Following a period of exhumation and erosion, Westfalian–Stefanian volcanics were deposited (Grierkar meta-rhyodacite: 309.8 ± 1.5 Ma; Venntal meta-rhyolite: 304.0 ± 3.0 Ma). A renewed magmatic pulse occurred in the Early Permian, producing large volumes of tonalites and granodiorites (Tux meta-granodiorite: 292.1 ± 1.9 Ma). The youngest magmatism is characterised by pyroclastic and tuffitic deposits (Pfitsch meta-rhyolite: 280.5 ± 2.6 Ma; Schönach valley meta-andesite: 279.0 ± 4.8 Ma). This volcanism was probably related to crustal extensional faulting within an intra-continental graben and horst setting, asthenospheric upwelling and heat flow increase due to the onset of the Permian rifting. The Permo-Triassic peneplanation and subsidence is documented by shallow marine and evaporitic deposits. Probably in the Middle Jurassic times, the area was flooded and in the Late Jurassic the whole area was covered by limestones, representing post-rift sediments on the southern European continental margin.

The lateand post-Variscan magmato-sedimentary evolution is documented in rock associations outcropping in the western Tauern Window. This area marks the southeastern part of the Variscan orogenic belt which evolved into a continental margin during the breakup of Pangea. An extensional regime governed the time span between Late Carboniferous and Middle Jurassic, when post-rift subsidence started and led to widespread flooding in Late Jurassic times.

The central-eastern part of the Sierra de Velasco (Sierras Pampeanas, NW Argentina) is formed by the large Huaco (40 × 30 km) and Sanagasta (25 × 15 km) granite massifs and the small La Chinchilla stock (2 × 2 km). The larger granites intrude into Ordovician metagranitoids and crosscut Devonian (?) mylonitic shear zones, whereas the small stock sharply intrudes into the Huaco granite. The two voluminous granites are biotitic-muscovitic and biotitic porphyritic syeno- to monzogranites. They contain small and rounded tonalitic and quartz-dioritic mafic microgranular enclaves. The small stock is an equigranular, zinnwaldite- and fluorite-bearing monzogranite. The studied granites are silica-rich (SiO 2 >70%), potassium-rich (K 2 O >4%), ferroan, alkali-calcic to slightly calk-alkalic, and moderately to weakly peraluminous (A/CNK: 1.06–1.18 Huaco granite, 1.01–1.09 Sanagasta granite, 1.05–1.06 La Chinchilla stock). They have moderate to strong enrichments in several LIL (Li, Rb, Cs) and HFS (Nb, Ta, Y, Th, U) elements, and low Sr, Ba and Eu contents. U–Pb monazite age determinations indicate Lower Carboniferous crystallization ages: 350–358 Ma for the Huaco granite, 352.7 ± 1.4 Ma for the Sanagasta granite and 344.5 ± 1.4 Ma for the La Chinchilla stock. The larger granites have similar ɛNd values between −2.1 and −4.3, whereas the younger stock has higher ɛNd of −0.6 to −1.4, roughly comparable to the values obtained for the Carboniferous San Blas granite (−1.4 to −1.7), located in the north of the sierra. The Huaco and Sanagasta granites have a mainly crustal source, but with some participation of a more primitive, possibly mantle-derived, component. The main crustal component can be attributed to Ordovician peraluminous metagranitoids. The La Chinchilla stock derives from a more primitive source, suggesting an increase with time in the participation of the primitive component during magma genesis. The studied granites were generated during a post-orogenic period in a within-plate setting, possibly as a response to the collapse of the previous Famatinian orogen, extension of the crust and mantle upwelling. They are part of the group of Middle Devonian–Lower Carboniferous granites of the Sierras Pampeanas. The distribution and U–Pb ages of these granites suggests a northward arc-parallel migration of this mainly post-orogenic magmatism with time.

The Sierra de Velasco is formed of large plutons that are related to each other by intrusive contacts and separated by generally aligned deformation zones. The plutons are composed of calc-alkaline, syn-, late- and post-kinematic granitoids of different ages and intrusion levels. They are grouped in three large batholiths: Aimogasta, Bazan and Patquia. On the northeastern flank, the metamorphic country rock is represented by micaschists, phyllites and quartzites with hornfels (La Cebila Formation), to the north by tonalitic porphyries that in all cases demonstrate a shallow level of the granitoid intrusions. Shape of the plutons, as well as structural characters and grade of deformation indicate that the intrusive sequences began in Ordovician times and culminated in the Carboniferous, with deformation periods during Silurian and Devonian times.

Four of the major plutons in the vicinity of the Candelaria mine (470 Mt at 0.95% Cu, 0.22 g/t Au, 3.1 g/t Ag) and a dike–sill system exposed in the Candelaria open pit have been dated with the U–Pb zircon method. The new geochronological data indicate that dacite magmatism around 123 Ma preceded the crystallization of hornblende diorite (Khd) at 118 ± 1 Ma, quartz–monzonite porphyry (Kqm) at 116.3 ± 0.4 Ma, monzodiorite (Kmd) at 115.5 ± 0.4 Ma, and tonalite (Kt) at 110.7 ± 0.4 Ma. The new ages of the plutons are consistent with field relationships regarding the relative timing of emplacement. Plutonism temporally overlaps with the iron oxide Cu–Au mineralization (Re–Os molybdenite ages at ∼115 Ma) and silicate alteration (ages mainly from 114 to 116 and 110 to 112 Ma) in the Candelaria–Punta del Cobre district. The dated dacite porphyry and hornblende diorite intrusions preceded the ore formation. A genetic link of the metallic mineralization with the quartz–monzonite porphyry and/or the monzodiorite is likely. Both of these metaluminous, shoshonitic (high-K) intrusions could have provided energy and contributed fluids, metals, and sulfur to the hydrothermal system that caused the iron oxide Cu–Au mineralization. The age of the tonalite at 110.7 Ma falls in the same range as the late alteration at 110 to 112 Ma. Tonalite emplacement may have sustained existing or driven newly developed hydrothermal cells that caused this late alteration or modified 40Ar/39Ar and K/Ar systematic in some areas.

This paper concerns sedimentary, volcanic, metamorphic and igneous rocks of the Sierra de Famatina and adjacent rock series in NW Argentina, for which the name 'Famatina system' has been used widely in the literature. It is suggested that this is renamed the 'Famatina complex', since 'system' is an internationally defined stratigraphical term. The Famatina complex is considered to have formed as an island arc on continental crust, represented in its diversity by metasediments and meta-volcanic rocks of the Sierra de Famatina, with a corresponding back-arc basin exposed in the medium- to high-grade metamorphic rocks of the adjacent Las Termas belt to the east. The Famatina complex was deposited in contact with the eastern Pampean complex ('Pampia terrane') at the western active continental margin of Gondwana in latest Proterozoic and Ordovician times. Deposition was, in part, accompanied by voluminous Ordovician magmatism of calc-alkaline composition. NNW-SSE-striking shear zones, dated previously at 402 +/- 2 Ma, are interpreted as marking the final stage of collision of the island-arc/back-arc/continent complex. The dynamics of crustal block movements along the most prominent (TIPA) shear zone indicate overthrusting of the eastern Pampean series onto the western Famatina series and, hence, uplift and cooling of the eastern block must have occurred earlier than cooling of the western one. The composition of inherited components in Famatina metasediments and meta-granitoids argues for autochthonous arc-continent convergence rather than accretion of an exotic terrane.

The Wildschonau ophiolite complex represents the lowermost and probably oldest rock unit of the western part of the Greywacke Supergroup. Within this ophiolite complex, zircon grains from a metamorphosec gabbro yield a U-Pb SHRIMP age of 477±9 Ma (2σ), interpreted as age of crystallization. This age reflects the magmatic activity in Cambro-Ordovician times and is probably related to a continental rift environment during breakup of Gondwana. The 477±9 Ma age is a few m.y. younger than oldest ages estimated from biostratigraphy; reasons for this difference are evaluated.

In their comment, Peter Horn and Dieter Muller-Sohnius agreed with the authors' methodological approach (Grupe ct al., 1997) to the reconstruction of mobility in prehistory in general, however, they have major objections against sample preparation, data handling and interpretation. We thank the editor of Applied Geochemistry for giving us the opportunity to reply to these comments, which while partly very useful, are however, mainly not justified. The conclusion by Horn and Muller-Sohnius that the samples analyzed do not belong to the same statistical population is correct, and their advice to treat every burial site individually is greatly acknowledged. Moreover, the samples analyzed by the present authors may not even belong to the same population in the demographic sense, because of a lack of Bell Beaker settlements and larger burial sites. This fact on the one hand puts certain constraints on our study, but was on the other hand the prerequisite for the problem arising about the Beaker folk which the authors tried to help solve by an archaeometric approach: to shed light on the exceptional "Bell Beaker phenomenon". (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

In order to contribute to the continuing discussion of the mobility of the late neolithic Bell Beaker people, 69 skeletons from southern Bavaria were analyzed for the 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios in tooth enamel and compact bone. Whereas Sr isotope ratios in the enamel of the first permanent molar match the Sr isotopic composition at the place of early childhood, the respective value in the adult femoral bone matches the Sr isotope ratio characteristic of the place of residence over the last few years prior to death. Significant differences between 87Sr/86Sr in these tissues indicate that 17.5–25% of these individuals changed residence during their lifetime. The overall direction of the migration, according to archaeological finds from the area, was toward the southwest. A relative surplus of migrating females and two cases of evidence for migration in children argue for the movement of small groups; exogamy might explain the higher numbers of immigrating females. With regard to current information on migration rates in prehistory, the southern Bavarian Bell Beaker people were indeed highly mobile, especially since the archaeometric method used in this study is likely to underestimate movement.

Zwei Komplexe sind zu trennen, ein Liegendkomplex aus wechsellagernden Glimmerschiefern und Quarziten mit gegenseitigen Übergängen und ein Hangendkomplex, der durch Einschaltungen von Hornblendegneisen, (Eklogit-)Amphiboliten und spärlich Amphibol-Eklogiten gekennzeichnet ist. Gerade die Amphibol-Eklogite dokumentieren eine polyphase Metamorphosegeschichte. Beide Einheiten sind durch eine horizontale bis sehr flach einfallende tektonische Grenze („Schuppenzone“) getrennt, an der als Leitgestein ein Mikroklin-Augengneis von wenigen Metern Mächtigkeit auftritt.