pointed out to the fact that they were effective predators and hunters instead of acquiring protein through scavenging. His research on Neanderthal diet was featured in the New York Times. He has also used strontium isotope analysis to study the landscape use by the early hominins. Richards conducted studies on cave bears using isotopic analysis and found that these bears had nitrogen isotopes values similar but slightly higher than those of herbivores. His research led to the discovery of the fact that these European cave bears were capable to altering their diets to become omnivores or even carnivores. Richards and his students have also conducted considerable research on the diets of people around the world in the Holocene period. A particular focus of this research has been the application of isotopes to study the change of diets associated with the introduction of farming and animal husbandry in Europe and China (the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition). He found, with colleagues, that there was a relatively abrupt change in diet when Neolithic artifacts and foods arrived in northwest Europe ca. 4000 BC. In 2002, Richards co-authored an article about the Medieval Wharram Percy population. They studied the measurements of the nitrogen and carbon isotope analysis conducted on the population to study the weaning age and impact of weaning on the population. The measurements and the data collected traced the weaning age of the Medieval Wharram Percy population to 2 years old. They also discussed the dietary changes in children after weaning. While researching on medieval era and the dietary preferences of the past people, Richards co-wrote an article in 2005 titled “Fast or feast: reconstructing diet in later medieval England by stable isotope analysis” and designed a pilot study to analyze the isotopic variations in medieval population of England. He observed the carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis conducted in three different medieval sites in England and found that the values differed significantly from the isotope analysis values collected from medieval sites other than England. His results indicated an important impact of the medieval fasting on everyday livelihood of the populations. Richards has also developed new methods of isotope analysis, especially focusing on the application of sulphur isotopes as dietary and migration indicators. Current research includes developing new isotope systems for dietary and migration studies using isotope analysis (including compound-specific measurements and non-traditional isotopes such as zinc) to explore and catalogue the range and