RT Journal Article
T1 Application of FTIR spectroscopy to infer ante- and post-mortem changes in archaeological human bone
A1 Colmenares-Prado, Marta
A1 Martínez Cortizas, Antonio
A1 Veiga-Rilo, Clara
A1 López Costas, Olalla
K1 FTIR
K1 Ante-mortem
K1 Diagenesis
K1 Bone type
K1 Age-at-death
AB Several studies have used Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) to assess chemical and structural changes caused by diagenesis in archaeological human bone, whereas other factors such as individual’s biological profile (sex and age) or the type of bone have seldom been considered. In this study transmission FTIR was applied to 51 bone samples from 19 post-Roman individuals of A Lanzada necropolis (NW Spain). Mid-infrared (MIR) indices (IRSF, MMI, C/P, C/C, Am/P, BPI, API, AmI/AmII) were also calculated and principal component analysis (PCA) was used to explore peak ratios and differences across the whole spectrum. PCA components showed correlation to the C/P and Am/P indices, as well as differences in the Amide III absorbance trends versus Amide A, B, I and II. Signals related to soil material (silicates and aliphatic organic matter) were also revealed by the PCA in some samples. No significant differences in bone composition per sex were found, but cranial carbonate content was significantly higher in non-adults than in adults, and ribs presented a higher amide-to-phosphate ratio (Am/P) than femora and crania. Ribs showed the most altered bioapatite, in agreement with a previous study based on the elemental composition of the samples analysed here. Bioapatite alteration may be responsible for the higher amide content relative to phosphate (i.e., preferential preservation of collagen) in ribs. Thus, caution is advisable when using the Am/P index to assess collagen preservation.
PB Elsevier
SN 1386-1425
YR 2024
FD 2024-12-27
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/41176
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/41176
LA eng
NO Colmenares-Prado, M., Martínez Cortizas, A., Veiga-Rilo, C., López-Costas, O. (2024). Application of FTIR spectroscopy to infer ante- and post-mortem changes in archaeological human bone. "Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy", vol. 330, pp.125675
NO This project was funded by Grupos de Referencia Competitiva (ED431C 2021/32) by Xunta de Galicia and by the European Union (ERC Consolidator Grant, PollutedPast, 101087832). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. OLC is funded by Ramón y Cajal 2020 (RYC2020-030531-I) del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. MCP is funded by Consolidación 2021 GRC GI-1553 – EcoPast. CVR is funded by predoctoral fellowship from Xunta de Galicia (ED481A 2022/ 205).
NO We would like to thank the Museo Provincial de Pontevedra and the Dirección Xeral de Patrimonio of Xunta de Galicia for providing access to the skeletal collections. We would like to thank the RIAIDT-USC analytical facilities. We are grateful to thank Zaira García López for her help in map elaboration. We would like to express our gratitude to Bruker Optics for providing the image of the IFS 66V FTIR equipment, employed in the graphical abstract. We would like to thank Francisco Fariña for providing the image of the skeletons taken by him during the 1977 excavation of the site that has been used for the graphical abstract. We also want to thank Tim Mighall (Aberdeen University) for his comments and suggestions which helped to improve the manuscript.
DS Minerva
RD 24 abr 2026