Strontium is a metal in group IIA of the periodic table with atomic number 38, an atomic weight of 87.62, and a density of 2.6 Mg/m 3. Its melting point is 768 C, and it boils at 1380 C. The ...

While genetic tests can reveal the ancestry of enslaved individuals, strontium analysis can now home in on where they actually grew up.

Remarkably, fossil shark teeth are also incredibly abundant. Sharks ruled the earth’s oceans for 400 million years, and every individual grows and sheds thousands of teeth in their lifetime.

Additionally, material used for strontium dating must not have undergone considerable physical and chemical change during fossilization, the preservation of once living things from the past.