Stable Isotope Preparation Lab

About the Lab

The Stable Isotope Preparation Lab at UConn supports interdisciplinary research in archaeology, biology, and geochemistry.

Our research is facilitated through the processing and preparation of various types of samples, from soils to biominerals and organic tissues (e.g., bone collagen, feathers, plants) for isotopic analysis using different samplings and extraction techniques.

The lab has a vibrant community of graduates and welcomes both undergraduate and graduate students, provides training opportunities, and research experiences.

Current Projects

The Timing of Early Indigenous Maize Horticulture in New England

Project Lead: Cassie Aimetti:

Cassie Aimetti: (she/her) earned her B.A. from the University of Connecticut in Earth Science and Anthropology with a minor in Studio Art in 2025. Her geoarchaeological research has focused on Holocene landscape transformation, relative sea-level rise, and human–environment interaction in the northeastern United States. Her ongoing project reevaluates the timing of early Indigenous maize horticulture in New England through micro botanical phytolith research. Additionally, she is investigating the application of stable isotope methods to archaeological shell middens as a proxy of paleoenvironmental reconstruction over the past several millennia. As both an artist and archaeologist, she is committed to the translation of scientific research into advocational and collaborative public outreach in the future.

The Demised and Those Who Thrived: Megafauna Turnover in the Pleistocene - Holocene Transition of Alaska

Project Lead: Audra Darcy

Alaska provides one of the last havens for extinct glacial megafauna, and a present day home for other megafauna species. This serves as a prime location to test the interaction of climate forcing, environment response, and humans on this megafauna turnover. Using an interdisciplinary approach we will study vegetation turnover, quality of plant dietary sources, archaeology, and stable isotope markers to look for physiological and dietary stresses in extinct and extant megafauna species between Last Glacial Maximum and the Holocene.

Tracing Human-Bear Conflicts in Connecticut Using Fur Stable Isotope Analysis

Project Lead: Sydney Greenfield

Sydney Greenfield (UConn NRE): is interested in human–wildlife coexistence, particularly how development and human behavior drive human-wildlife conflict and influence a species’ ability to adapt to development. As part of her work, she is using stable isotopes to better understand the diet and behavior of black bears in Connecticut. Specifically, she aims to examine how black bear diets have changed over time and how those shifts may be linked to behavioral changes and increasing human–bear conflicts. Sydney is especially interested in the role of anthropogenic food resources in shaping bear behavior and hibernation patterns, and in evaluating whether stable isotopes can be used to noninvasively detect the consumption of lipid-rich foods.

Last Glacial Local Environments and Human Behavior in the Southern Levant

Project Lead: Chen Zeigen

My dissertation project focuses on the reconstruction of local paleoenvironments and human mobility in the southern Levant during the last glacial cycle. I use stable isotope proxies from tooth enamel carbonates of hunted herbivores and from leaf wax biomarkers, all collected from cave sites located in Israel, with human occupations spanning from 70 to 20 thousand years before present. Leaf wax biomarkers, together with the carbon and oxygen isotopic composition of tooth enamel, record information about hydrology and plant biome in the site’s surroundings, providing a way to trace environmental changes experienced by the site’s occupants. The strontium and oxygen isotopic composition of herbivore teeth provide a way to trace changes in hunting ranges utilized by humans, and thus allow a glimpse into mobility patterns central to hunter-gatherer subsistence strategies.

Our Team

Hartman Lab 2026
From left to right: Audra Darcy, Cassie Aimetti, Chen Zeigen, Gideon Hartman

Lab Director

Gideon Hartman

Graduate Students

Audra Darcy
Cassie Aimetti
Syndey Greenfield
Chen Zeigen

Past Graduates and Postgraduates

Giuseppe Briatico
Alex Brittingham
Corrin Laposki
Elena Skosey Lalonde
Petra Vaiglova

Contact Us

gideon.hartman@uconn.edu
Address: Beach Hall, Room 309

354 Mansfield Road Unit 1176
Storrs, CT 06269-1176