Passage:
Archaeologists studying Bronze Age pastoralist migrations across the Eurasian steppe have traditionally relied on pottery typology to chart population movements. However, recent isotopic analyses of strontium ratios () in human tooth enamel have challenged established migration models. Because strontium ratios in tooth enamel reflect the geochemical composition of local groundwater consumed during childhood tooth development, non-local isotopic ratios serve as a definitive biomarker for individuals who relocated later in life. Researchers examining a late Bronze Age burial complex noted that over forty percent of analyzed skeletons exhibited non-local strontium signatures, leading them to conclude that the community's demographic growth was driven primarily by rapid, large-scale immigration from distant geographic zones rather than internal population growth. Nonetheless, critics point out that strontium isotopes vary significantly across micro-environments within short distances if diverse geological formations intersect. Therefore, unless local geochemical variability across adjacent grazing territories is exhaustively mapped, high isotopic variance among buried individuals cannot conclusively prove long-distance regional immigration.
Statement:
In arguing that high isotopic variance in tooth enamel does not conclusively prove long-distance regional immigration, the critics assume that pastoralists moving between geologically distinct micro-environments within the same local region would absorb varying strontium ratios into their tooth enamel during childhood development.
Answer: Answer