Stable oxygen isotope ratios are widely measured in archaeologically and paleontologically recovered bones and teeth as measures of climate change, geographic provenance, migration, and cultural behavior.

Stable isotopes are variants of atoms that differ in mass but do not decay over time, that is, they are not radioactive. The element oxygen (O) is found in three naturally occurring stable isotopes, 18O, 17O, and 16O. The nucleus of each of these oxygen isotopes contains eight protons and either eight, nine, or ten neutrons, respectively. Of these stable isotopes, 16O is the most abundant on earth, accounting for 99.757 % of atoms, while 17O (0.038 %) and 18O (0.205 %) occur in far smaller concentrations worldwide.

More Info: link.springer.com