Isotope Dataset for Archaeological Biological Remains in China (IDABRC)

This dataset is provided as a single XLSX file containing five worksheets, corresponding to:

(1) human organic materials, including δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, and δ³⁴S values from bone, dentine, hair, and muscle;

(2) human bioapatite, including δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O, and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values from tooth enamel and bone;

(3) animal organic materials, including δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, and δ³⁴S values from bone and dentine, as well as hair, horn, antler, wool, leather, and meat;

(4) animal bioapatite, including δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O, and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values from tooth enamel, bone, and dentine;

(5) archaeological plant remains, including δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values. Each worksheet contains structured records linking site context, sample identifiers, chronological information, biological and archaeological data, isotopic measurements, and bibliographic references.

Each worksheet is structured into the following categories:

Site information includes site name (in English and Chinese), modern administrative unit (province), archaeological context, and geographic coordinates reported in WGS84 format. Burial information is recorded only for human samples when available, particularly for individuals recovered from identifiable tombs or burial containers. This includes burial or feature type, burial role (e.g. tomb owner or human sacrifice), social rank, and the presence or absence of grave goods.

Chronological metadata include reported radiocarbon dates (original ¹⁴C ages with laboratory uncertainties, median calibrated ages, and calibrated age ranges at 95.4% probability). Two additional fields, Estimated Year Upper (BP) and Estimated Year Lower (BP), were generated to provide a unified chronological range across all records. Where radiocarbon dates were available, these fields correspond to the upper and lower bounds of the 95.4% calibrated age range. For records lacking radiocarbon data, they were assigned based on the cultural periodization and/or stratigraphic attribution reported in the original publications.

Sample and biological data describe the analysed component (e.g. bone, enamel, dentine, incrementally sampled dentine, incrementally sampled enamel, hair, muscle), testing proxy (e.g. collagen, keratin, bioapatite), and sampled element (type of tooth and bone). For animal and plant samples, taxonomic identification is