From Isoscapes to Farmscapes: Introduction to the Special Issue

This special issue arose from a dedicated session at the European Association of Archaeologists Conference in Glasgow 2015, titled: From Isoscapes to Farmscapes: Unlocking the Potential and Avoiding the Pitfalls of Integrating Isotopic and Archaeological Data to Reconstruct Diet and Subsistence Strategies. In this, we sought to explore the opportunities and challenges offered by the application of isotope data to diet, subsistence and past farming practice through case studies that considered these topics for a multitude of periods and regions. This included an exploration of the specific methodological, or other, limitations that are currently encountered by researchers in attempting to apply isotopic analysis to the questions above. The title reflected that the wealth of isotope data now in existence and methodological advances (e.g. sample size and throughput) are producing what the ecological and environmental communities are terming ‘Isoscapes’ or ‘isotopic landscapes’ (Bowen Citation2010).