As a result of fire, or funerary practices, archaeological and paleontological sites often contain burned skeletal remains. Studying bones in this state can be challenging due to the changes in the atomic structure to the bone caused by burning. This study uses, for the first time, an integrated approach, combining complementary vibrational spectroscopic techniques including inelastic neutron scattering, to study ancient burned bones.
By comparing their analysis to modern human bones that had been subjected to controlled burning, the researchers were able to identify the conditions that the ancient bones had been subject to. The group studied human and animal bones from different Italian archaeological sites from distinct historical periods: Neolithic, Copper Age, Roman, and the Middle Ages.
They were able to gain information about the difference in cremation practices in the Copper Age, which occurred mainly in home fires, and in the Roman age, where the bodies were cremated inside their graves, unwrapped, in direct contact with the soil. Their work provides archaeologists and anthropologists with new insights into past civilizations, including their burial, and cooking practices.
Related publication: “First analysis of ancient burned human skeletal remains probed by neutron and optical vibrational spectroscopy.” Sci Advances 5, 6, (2019).
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw1292
Funding: The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the CNR (Italy) within the CNR-STFC Agreement
Authors: G Festa (CENTRO FERMI), C Andreani (CENTRO FERMI, Università degli Studi di Roma), M Baldoni (Università degli Studi di Roma), V Cipollari (Soprintendenza Archeologica), C Martínez-Labarga (Università degli Studi di Roma), F Martini (Università degli Studi di Firenze), O Rickards, MF Rolfo (Università degli Studi di Roma), L Sarti, N Volante (Università di Siena), R Senesi (CENTRO FERMI, Università degli Studi di Roma), FR Stasolla (Sapienza Università di Roma), SF Parker (ISIS), AR Vassalo, AP Mamede, LAE Batista de Carvalho, MPM Marques (University of Coimbra)
