Stable Isotope Research for Human Bioarchaeology in Southeast Asia: A Review of Research Trends, Gaps, and Opportunities

ABSTRACT Despite the increasing number of studies undertaking isotopic analyses on archaeological material, some regions of the world and certain research foci remain underresearched and underrepresented. One of these regions is Southeast Asia, where bioarchaeological research was only comparatively recently established compared with other regions of the world. To these ends, this review explores publication and research trends in Southeast Asian bioarchaeology regarding stable isotope analyses of human remains, through a combined bibliometric and content analysis approach of identified in‐scope sources ( n = 37). Key results of this analysis and review indicate that the rates of matching country affiliation authorship and open access are increasing over time, although some regions still remain underrepresented. Additionally, while many studies discussed issues of diagenesis and sample integrity, only 37.8% of studies directly assessed their samples for diagenetic change. In terms of opportunities, there is scope for further serial sampling or paired tissue studies in the region, along with potential big data approaches, and broader discussions about ethics and equity. These results are tempered by several methodological limitations, including limitation to only sources published in the English language. Moving forward, stable isotope research in Southeast Asia should prioritize quality control measures and diagenesis assessments and work with local researchers and descendant communities. Broadly, this review provides a launch point for future isotopic research in the region.