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First analysis of ancient burned human skeletal remains probed by neutron and optical vibrational spectroscopy.

ABSTRACT: Burned skeletal remains are abundant in archaeological and paleontological sites, the result of fire or of ancient funerary practices. In the burning process, the bone matrix suffers structural and dimensional changes that interfere with the reliability of available osteometric methods. Recent studies showed that these macroscopic changes are accompanied by microscopic variations are reflected in vibrational spectra. An innovative integrated approach to the study of archaeological combusted skeletal remains is reported here, where the application of complementary vibrational spectroscopic techniques-INS (inelastic neutron scattering), FTIR (Fourier transform infrared), and micro-Raman-enables access to the complete vibrational profile and constitutes the first application of neutron spectroscopy to ancient bones. Comparison with data from modern human bones that were subjected to controlled burning allowed identification of specific heating conditions. This pioneering study provides archaeologists and anthropologists with relevant information on past civilizations, including regarding funerary, burial, and cooking practices and environmental settings.

SUBMITTER: Festa G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6598762 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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First analysis of ancient burned human skeletal remains probed by neutron and optical vibrational spectroscopy.

Festa G G Andreani C C Baldoni M M Cipollari V V Martínez-Labarga C C Martini F F Rickards O O Rolfo M F MF Sarti L L Volante N N Senesi R R Stasolla F R FR Parker S F SF Vassalo A R AR Mamede A P AP Batista de Carvalho L A E LAE Marques M P M MPM

Science advances 20190628 6

Burned skeletal remains are abundant in archaeological and paleontological sites, the result of fire or of ancient funerary practices. In the burning process, the bone matrix suffers structural and dimensional changes that interfere with the reliability of available osteometric methods. Recent studies showed that these macroscopic changes are accompanied by microscopic variations are reflected in vibrational spectra. An innovative integrated approach to the study of archaeological combusted skel ...[more]

PMID: 31259242

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Project description:Over the past forty years, stable isotope analysis of bone (and tooth) collagen and hydroxyapatite has become a mainstay of archaeological and paleoanthropological reconstructions of paleodiet and paleoenvironment. Despite this method's frequent use across anthropological subdisciplines (and beyond), the present work represents the first attempt at gauging the effects of inter-laboratory variability engendered by differences in a) sample preparation, and b) analysis (instrumentation, working standards, and data calibration). Replicate analyses of a 14C-dated ancient human bone by twenty-one archaeological and paleoecological stable isotope laboratories revealed significant inter-laboratory isotopic variation for both collagen and carbonate. For bone collagen, we found a sizeable range of 1.8‰ for ?13Ccol and 1.9‰ for ?15Ncol among laboratories, but an interpretatively insignificant average pairwise difference of 0.2‰ and 0.4‰ for ?13Ccol and ?15Ncol respectively. For bone hydroxyapatite the observed range increased to a troublingly large 3.5‰ for ?13Cap and 6.7‰ for ?18Oap, with average pairwise differences of 0.6‰ for ?13Cap and a disquieting 2.0‰ for ?18Oap. In order to assess the effects of preparation versus analysis on isotopic variability among laboratories, a subset of the samples prepared by the participating laboratories were analyzed a second time on the same instrument. Based on this duplicate analysis, it was determined that roughly half of the isotopic variability among laboratories could be attributed to differences in sample preparation, with the other half resulting from differences in analysis (instrumentation, working standards, and data calibration). These findings have serious implications for choices made in the preparation and extraction of target biomolecules, the comparison of results obtained from different laboratories, and the interpretation of small differences in bone collagen and hydroxyapatite isotope values. To address the issues arising from inter-laboratory comparisons, we devise a novel measure we term the Minimum Meaningful Difference (MMD), and demonstrate its application.

Dataset Information

First analysis of ancient burned human skeletal remains probed by neutron and optical vibrational spectroscopy.

Publications

First analysis of ancient burned human skeletal remains probed by neutron and optical vibrational spectroscopy.

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