Chemical signals and reconstruction of life strategies from ancient human bones and teeth – problems and perspectives

Abstract

Chemical tests in bioarcheology focus primarily on the analysis of human and animal remains, which originate at different points in time and space. These are mainly bones and teeth but also snail-and cockleshells as well as the remnants of soft tissues, if preserved, at archeological sites. This branch of science has been developing rapidly for over ten years. Initially, the researchers centred their interest on the reconstruction of paleodiets of our ancestors by studying trace elements. Currently, we notice the dynamic development of methodology based on the application of stable carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and strontium isotopes in examining the diet, migrations Chemical signals and reconstruction of life strategies from ancient human bones and teethproblems and perspectives Krzysztof SzostekDepartment of Anthropology, Institute of Zoology, Jagiellonian University, Ingardena 6, 30-060 Kraków, Poland; E-mail: szosy@wp.plAbStrAct Chemical analyses of historical and prehistoric bone material provide us with a complex body of knowledge in bioarcheological studies. These can be used for reconstructing diet, migration, climate changes and the weaning process. The analysis of enamel, dentin and bones allows researchers to gather data on life strategies of an individual by retrospectively tracing his ontogenetic phases. This is made possible through knowledge of the mineralization periods of permanent and deciduous teeth while simultaneously taking account of differences between enamel, dentin and bone remodelling rates, dependent on the age of the individual. Yet, the large interpretative potential of isotope analyses of bone material is severely limited by diagenesis. The accurate recording of diagenetic changes in historical human bone material is a current main trend in bioarcheological research. Today, a highly specialised set of research tools is used for verifying whether bones unearthed at archeological sites are suitable for isotope tests. Isotope determinations are pivotal in this research as reconstructions of paleodiets or migrations of our ancestors can be based only on material that has been maintained intact in sufficient proportions post mortem.

Paleodiet and health in a mass burial population: The stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes from Potočani, a 6,200‐year‐old massacre site in Croatia

“…Some dietary variation is visible among people buried in the Potočani mass burial. Differences in δ 13 C and δ 15 N isotope values between animals and humans correspond to expected trophic shifts between herbivores and omnivores (Ambrose, 1993;Fuller et al, 2012;Schoeninger & DeNiro, 1984;Szostek, 2009). C 3 plants and C 3 -fed terrestrial mammals likely formed the majority of human diet, though it is possible fish and other freshwater resources were consumed in small quantities (Figure 4).…”

Diet and society in Poland before the state: stable isotope evidence from a Wielbark population (2nd c. AD)

“…We also consider peaks or shoulders at wavelength 1096 cm -1 , in- 1996). CI and C/P values far outside the range of modern bone suggest either that contaminating substances are present in the sample, or that the sample has recrystallized during deposition or sample preparation, both of which may shift the isotope signatures in carbonate away from biogenic values (Berna et al 2004;Nagy et al 2008;Szostek 2009;Szostek et al 2011;Yoder and Bartelink 2010).…”

Bone diagenesis study of the burials from the Pedra do Alexandre archaeological site, Carnaúba dos Dantas, RN

“…included (Beasley et al, 2014. From the measuring of some peaks heights present in the FTIR spectra, it was possible to calculate another two diagenetic indices: the IR-SF (Infrared Splitting Factor), an analogous index to the CI, but calculated in FTIR spectroscopies, and the C/P (Carbonate-Phosphate) ratio ( Figure 3) (Roberts et al, 2002, Szostek, 2009, Farias, 2013. The calculation of the C/P ratio is particularly important for the study of diagenetic processes that affects the inorganic component as this index regards to the presence of the carbonate (CO 3 ) and phosphate (PO 4 ) radicals in the sample.…”