Burned or charred organic matter in anthropogenic combustion features may provide important clues about past human activities related to fire. To interpret archaeological hearths, a correct identification of the organic source material is key. In the present work, Raman spectroscopy is applied to characterise the structural properties of char produced in laboratory heating- and open-fire experiments. This reference data set is compared to analyses of three different archaeological sites with Middle Palaeolithic combustion contexts. The results show that it is possible to determine whether a charred fragment is the product of burning animal-derived matter (e.g. meat) or plant-derived matter (e.g. wood) by plotting a few Raman spectral parameters (i.e. position of G and D bands, and intensity ratios H_D/H_G and H_V/H_G) against one another. The most effective parameters for discriminating animal- from plant-derived matter are the position of the G band and the H_V/H_G intensity ratio. This method can be applied on raw sample material and on uncovered micromorphological thin sections. The latter greatly compliments micromorphology by providing information about char fragments without any clear morphological characteristics. This study is the first of its kind and may provide archaeologists with a robust new method to distinguish animal- from plant-derived char in thin sections.

人为燃烧特征中燃烧或烧焦的有机物可能提供有关过去与火灾有关的人类活动的重要线索。要解释考古炉膛，正确识别有机来源材料是关键。在目前的工作中，拉曼光谱用于表征实验室加热和明火实验中产生的炭的结构特性。该参考数据集与对具有旧石器时代中期燃烧环境的三个不同考古遗址的分析进行了比较。结果表明，可以通过绘制一些拉曼光谱参数（即 G 和 D 波段的位置, 和强度比H _D/ H _G和H _V / H _G ) 相互对抗。区分动物源和植物源性物质的最有效参数是 G 带的位置和H _V / H _G强度比。该方法可应用于原始样品材料和未覆盖的微形态薄片。后者通过提供关于没有任何明确形态特征的炭片段的信息，极大地补充了微形态学。这项研究是同类研究中的第一项，可能为考古学家提供一种可靠的新方法来区分薄片中的动物和植物来源的炭。