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Identifying Archaeological Bone via Non-Destructive ZooMS and the Materiality of Symbolic Expression: Examples from Iroquoian Bone Points.

ABSTRACT: Today, practical, functional and symbolic choices inform the selection of raw materials for worked objects. In cases where we can discern the origin of worked bone, tooth, ivory and antler objects in the past, we assume that similar choices are being made. However, morphological species identification of worked objects is often impossible due to the loss of identifying characteristics during manufacture. Here, we describe a novel non-destructive ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry) method which was applied to bone points from Pre-Contact St. Lawrence Iroquoian village sites in southern Quebec, Canada. The traditional ZooMS technique requires destructive analysis of a sample, which can be problematic when dealing with artefacts. Here we instead extracted proteins from the plastic bags in which the points had been stored. ZooMS analysis revealed hitherto unexpected species, notably black bear (Ursus americanus) and human (Homo sapiens sapiens), used in point manufacture. These surprising results (confirmed through genomic sequencing) highlight the importance of advancing biomolecular research in artefact studies. Furthermore, they unexpectedly and exceptionally allow us to identify and explore the tangible, material traces of the symbolic relationship between bears and humans, central to past and present Iroquoian cosmology and mythology.

SUBMITTER: McGrath K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6667708 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Identifying Archaeological Bone via Non-Destructive ZooMS and the Materiality of Symbolic Expression: Examples from Iroquoian Bone Points.

McGrath Krista K Rowsell Keri K Gates St-Pierre Christian C Tedder Andrew A Foody George G Roberts Carolynne C Speller Camilla C Collins Matthew M

Scientific reports 20190730 1

Today, practical, functional and symbolic choices inform the selection of raw materials for worked objects. In cases where we can discern the origin of worked bone, tooth, ivory and antler objects in the past, we assume that similar choices are being made. However, morphological species identification of worked objects is often impossible due to the loss of identifying characteristics during manufacture. Here, we describe a novel non-destructive ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry) method ...[more]

PMID: 31363122

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Project description:This study stems from the need for numismatics to establish whether there may be relationships between a group of 103 bronze coins from the Roman era found in archaeological excavations on the Cesén Mountain (Treviso, Italy) and a group of 117 coins kept at the Museum of Natural History and Archaeology in Montebelluna (Treviso, Italy). The chemists were delivered six coins with neither pre-agreements nor further information on the origin of the coins. Therefore, the request was to hypothetically assign the coins to the two groups on the basis of similarities and differences in their surface composition. Only non-destructive analytical techniques were allowed to be used to characterize the surface of the six coins taken blindly from the two sets. The elemental analysis of each coins' surface was carried out by µ-XRF. To better observe the morphology of the coins' surfaces, SEM-EDS was used. Compounds covering the coins coming from both corrosion processes (patinas) and the deposition of soil encrustations were also analyzed by means of the FTIR-ATR technique. The molecular analysis confirmed the presence of silico-aluminate minerals on some coins, unequivocally indicating a provenance from clayey soil. Some soil samples, collected from the archaeological site of interest, were analyzed to verify whether the encrusted layer on coins could contain chemical components compatible with them. This result, together with the chemical and morphological investigations, led us to subdivide the six target coins into two groups. The first group is made up of two coins coming from the set of coins from excavation (found in the subsoil) and from the set from open air finds (coins found in the top layer of the soil). The second group is made up of four coins that are devoid of characteristics corresponding to exposure to soil contact for long periods of time and, moreover, their surface compounds could suggest a different provenance. The analytical results of this study made it possible to correctly assign all six coins to the two groups of finds and support numismatics, which was unconvinced in considering all coins to come from the same finding site only on the basis of archaeological documentations.

Dataset Information

Identifying Archaeological Bone via Non-Destructive ZooMS and the Materiality of Symbolic Expression: Examples from Iroquoian Bone Points.

Publications

Identifying Archaeological Bone via Non-Destructive ZooMS and the Materiality of Symbolic Expression: Examples from Iroquoian Bone Points.

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