Comparer des méthodes

	Reconstruction isotopique du régime alimentaire	Nombre minimum d'individus
Domaine	Archéologie	Archéologie
Famille	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Année d'origine	1983	1953
Auteur d'origine	Margaret Schoeninger	Theodore White
Type	Geochemical diet analysis	Faunal quantification method
Source fondatrice	Schoeninger, M. J., & DeNiro, M. J. (1983). Nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition of bone collagen from marine and terrestrial animals. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 47(4), 625-639.	White, T. E. (1953). A method of calculating the dietary percentages of various food animals utilized by aboriginal peoples. American Antiquity, 19(4), 396-398.
Alias	stable isotope analysis, carbon-nitrogen isotope analysis, diet isotope analysis	MNI method, minimum individual number
Apparentées	4	4
Résumé	Isotope diet reconstruction uses the stable isotope ratios of carbon (C13/C12) and nitrogen (N15/N14) in human bone collagen to infer the composition of past diets. Pioneered by Margaret Schoeninger and Michael DeNiro in the 1980s, this method reveals long-term dietary patterns by analyzing the chemical signature of food absorbed into skeletal tissues. Stable isotopes provide quantitative information about the relative contributions of terrestrial versus marine foods, and between plant and animal sources, making it a powerful tool for understanding past subsistence practices.	Minimum number of individuals (MNI) is a quantitative zooarchaeological method that estimates the minimum number of animals represented in a faunal assemblage based on the frequency of unique skeletal elements. Developed by Theodore White in 1953, it is one of the most widely used techniques for analyzing animal bone assemblages from archaeological sites. The MNI method helps archaeologists understand hunting and butchering patterns, interpret subsistence practices, and assess the diversity of fauna exploited by past human populations.