Bone, archaeological materials

Bones and teeth, however, are primary archaeological materials and are common to many archaeological sites. Bones bearing cut marks from stone tools are a clear proxy for human occupation of a site, and in the study of human evolution, hominid remains provide the primary archive material. Hence, many attempts have been made to directly date bones and teeth using the U-series method. Unlike calcite, however, bones and teeth are open systems. Living bone, for example, contains a few parts per billion (ppb) of Uranium, but archaeological bone may contain 1-100 parts per million (ppm) of Uranium, taken up from the burial environment. Implicit in the calculation of a date from °Th/U or Pa/ U is a model for this Uranium uptake, and the reliability of a U-series date is dependent on the validity of this uptake model. 

Use of inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (1CP-MS) coupled to a laser-ablation sample introduction system (LA-ICP-MS) as a minimally destructive method for chemical characterization of archaeological materials has gained favor during the past few years. Although still a relatively new analytical technique in archaeology, LA-ICP-MS has been demonstrated to be a productive avenue of research for chemical characterization of obsidian, chert, pottery, painted and glazed surfaces, and human bone and teeth. Archaeological applications of LA-ICP-MS and comparisons with other analytical methods are described. 

In this paper we have presented several applications of LA-ICP-MS to archaeological materials. Although our discussion has centered upon characterization of obsidian, ceramics, pigments, and bone, LA-ICP-MS has... 

The study of F in archaeological materials is mostly focussed on bone materials or flints. Therefore, this paper is mainly dedicated to the study of these materials and their potential for revealing information on the past some applications of F studies in obsidian and teeth are also mentioned. The following examples illustrate the importance of the chemical and isotopic analysis for archaeological studies, in general. Prior to the presentation of F studies in archaeological bone material and flint, it is important to review their main characteristics in order to be able to adequately evaluate the output and limits of investigations. 

The analysis of archaeological bone presents several problems which are encountered to a much lesser degree in the analysis of inorganic substances where often a discrete source is involved and where the matrix is not as open to contamination by the depositional environment. Nevertheless, bone is one of the most commonly found archaeological materials, and any inferences made from its trace elemental composition would certainly be useful. We relate herein our experiences with the trace element analysis of archaeological bone, the problems encountered in these analyses, and some of the conclusions that we have reached as the result of our measurements. 

Some solid materials are very intractable to analysis by standard methods and cannot be easily vaporized or dissolved in common solvents. Glass, bone, dried paint, and archaeological samples are common examples. These materials would now be examined by laser ablation, a technique that produces an aerosol of particulate matter. The laser can be used in its defocused mode for surface profiling or in its focused mode for depth profiling. Interestingly, lasers can be used to vaporize even thermally labile materials through use of the matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) method variant. 

Belshaw NS, Pike AWG, Henderson GM (2002) U-series dating of archaeological bone material by laser ablation mnltiple-ion-counter ICP-MS. Poster presented at Golschmidt 2002 conference. 18th-25th Angnst 2002, Davos, Swtizerland... 

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