The integration of isotopic and historical data to investigate the identification of crewmembers of the 1845 Franklin expedition

Abstract The 1845 expedition of Sir John Franklin in search of a northwest passage through the Canadian Arctic resulted in the loss of all 129 officers and crew. The skeletal remains of a number of these individuals have been recovered from King William Island, Nunavut, and one positive and several tentative identifications have been made using DNA, isotopic, and archaeological evidence, and facial reconstruction. The aim of this study was to apply oxygen, strontium, and lead isotope analysis to tooth enamel samples obtained from twelve unidentified individuals to investigate their possible identity by comparing information on geographic origins derived from the isotope data with place of birth data obtained from historical documents. The oxygen isotope data provide little insight into the birth place of the individuals in our sample. In contrast, the strontium isotope data point to a large number of possible identifications and a number of exclusions. The lead isotope data indicate that all individuals in the sample derived their lead from British ore sources.