Linda Reynard

Postdoctoral Research Assistant

linda.reynard@rlaha.ox.ac.uk

Earth Sciences, Parks Road, Oxford, UK, OX1 3PR
tel: 01865 282114

Research Interests

I am working at the interface of archaeology and chemistry, as part of a NERC-funded project studying the emergence of dairying in prehistory, using the direct measurement of the calcium isotope ratios of bone remains. This is in contrast to, but also complementary with, indirect evidence such as domesticate herd structures, lipid remains in pots, and ancient DNA polymorphisms.

Calcium isotopes are biologically fractionated such that the main human calcium sources of plants and dairy have different calcium isotope ratios. Therefore the resulting bone calcium isotope ratios vary according to the proportion of dairy and plants that are consumed. Preliminary work in this department has shown that dairy consumption by humans indeed results in a lower bone d^44/42Ca value, such that pre-Neolithic non-dairying humans are similar to cattle, while post-Neolithic humans have lower bone d^44/42Ca from the consumption of dairy with lower d^44/42Ca (Chu et al., in review). I am working on measuring human and animal bones (sheep, goat, cattle) from a range of earliest Neolithic sites in Europe and Western Asia (up to 11,000 years BP), comparing human and animal d^44/42Ca.

Measurements are made by multiple-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS), after preparative chemistry in the clean lab.

Publications

L.M. Reynard and R.E.M. Hedges, Stable hydrogen isotopes of bone collagen in palaeodietary and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction, Journal of Archaeological Science, doi: 10.1016/j.jas.2007.12.004 (2008).  [download a pdf copy]

R.E.M. Hedges and L.M. Reynard, Nitrogen isotopes and the trophic level of humans in archaeology, Journal of Archaeological Science 34, 1240-1251 (2007).  [download a pdf copy]

L.M. Reynard and D.J. Donaldson, Overtone-induced chemistry of trifluoroacetic acid: an experimental and theoretical study, J. Phys. Chem. A 106, 8651-57 (2002).

N.R. Walker, L.M. Reynard, and M.C.L. Gerry, The Microwave Spectrum and Structure of KrAgF, J. Mol. Struc. 612 (2-3), 109-116 (2002).

C.J. Evans, L.M. Reynard, and M.C.L. Gerry, Pure rotational spectra, structures, and hyperfine constants of OC-AuX (X = F, Cl, Br), Inorg. Chem. 40, 6123-31 (2001).

L.M. Reynard and D.J. Donaldson, OH production from the reaction of vibrationally excited H2 in the mesosphere, Geoph. Res. Lett. 28, 2157-60 (2001).

L.M. Reynard, C.J. Evans, and M.C.L. Gerry, Microwave spectrum, structures, and hyperfine constants of Kr-AgCl: Formation of a weak Kr-Ag covalent bond, J. Mol. Spectrosc. 206, 33-40 (2001).

L.M. Reynard, C.J. Evans, and M.C.L. Gerry, The pure rotational spectrum of AuI, J. Mol. Spectrosc. 205, 344-46 (2001).

R. Wezel et al., Improved cathode structures for direct liquid feed fuel cells, International Publication Number WO 01/39300, World Intellectual Property Organization (Patent Cooperation Treaty), 2001.