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Bone degradation at five Arctic archaeological sites: Quantifying the importance of burial environment and bone characteristics
Journal of Archaeological Science ( IF 2.8 ) Pub Date : 2020-12-16 , DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2020.105296
Henning Matthiesen , Anne Marie Høier Eriksen , Jørgen Hollesen , Matthew Collins

The degradation of archaeological bones is influenced by many variables. The bone material itself is a composite of both organic and inorganic components, and their degradation depends on processes occurring both before and after burial, and on both intrinsic bone characteristics as well as extrinsic environmental parameters. In this study we attempt to quantify the effect of some of the variables using a novel approach that includes detailed monitoring of the burial environment combined with respirometry studies of bone material from five archaeological sites in West Greenland. First, we compare the state of preservation of excavated bone material with the current burial environment including the soil pH, thawing degree days, soil porosity and soil moisture. Secondly, we investigate oxic degradation of collected bone samples through respirometry and quantify the effects of temperature and moisture on the oxidation rate of individual bones. Finally, we discuss how the oxidation rate is influenced by intrinsic bone parameters. Some of the main conclusions are:

1)

There is a significant correlation between the current burial environment and the current state of preservation of the bones.

2)

The oxidation rate measured by respirometry increases on average fourfold as temperature increases by 10 °C, and more than hundred-fold when dry bones are soaked in water.

3)

The oxidation rate of different bones varies over two orders of magnitude due to intrinsic variables such as organic content and state of preservation of the bones.

4)

The median oxidation rate of wet bone at 15 °C corresponds to a yearly loss of 3.8% of their mean organic content, while the median yearly loss for dry bones at 75% RH is 0.02%.

5)

Respirometry is a promising tool for quantitative degradation studies of bone, but more studies are needed in order to obtain a better understanding of the oxidation processes involved.



中文翻译:

五个北极考古遗址的骨骼退化:量化墓葬环境和骨骼特征的重要性

考古骨骼的退化受到许多变量的影响。骨材料本身是有机和无机成分的复合材料,其降解取决于埋葬前后发生的过程,还取决于骨的固有特性以及外部环境参数。在这项研究中,我们尝试使用一种新颖的方法来量化某些变量的影响,该方法包括对埋葬环境进行详细监测,并结合对来自西格陵兰岛五个考古地点的骨质进行呼吸测定研究。首先,我们将挖掘的骨材料的保存状态与当前的埋葬环境(包括土壤pH,解冻天数,土壤孔隙度和土壤湿度)进行比较。其次,我们通过呼吸测定法研究收集的骨样品的有氧降解,并量化温度和水分对单个骨骼氧化速率的影响。最后,我们讨论氧化速率如何受到内在骨骼参数的影响。一些主要结论是:

1)

当前的埋葬环境与骨头的保存状态之间存在显着的相关性。

2)

通过呼吸测定法测得的氧化速率平均随温度升高10°C而增加四倍,而当将干骨头浸入水中时,其氧化率则增加一百倍以上。

3)

由于内在变量(例如有机物含量和骨骼的保存状态),不同骨骼的氧化速率会在两个数量级上变化。

4)

湿骨在15°C时的中值氧化速率相当于其平均有机物含量的3.8%年损失,而干骨在75%RH时的中值年度损失为0.02%。

5)

呼吸测定法是用于骨骼定量降解研究的有前途的工具,但是需要更多的研究以更好地了解所涉及的氧化过程。

更新日期:2020-12-16
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