Bone diagenesis : the mysteries of the petrous pyramid
The discovery of petrous bone as an excellent repository for ancient biomolecules has been a turning point in biomolecular archaeology, especially in the recovery of ancient genomes. Although the information extracted by the biochemical analyses of petrous bone can be valuable, the processes are destructive, expensive and time consuming, while excessive and uncontrolled sampling could result in loss of this valuable resource for future research. This study reports on the histological (optical microscopy), physical (FTIR-ATR), elemental (CN), biomechanical (nanoindentation) and biochemical (collagen and DNA analysis) preservation of 272 bones spanning from c. 10.000 BC to c. 1850 AD, including 108 petrous bones. Through the combined application of a number of diagenetic parameters (general histological index; infrared splitting factor; carbonate/phosphate ratio; amide/phosphate ratio; col wt. %; % C, % N and C/N of whole bone and collagen; hardness, elastic modulus, % endogenous DNA), new insights into petrous bone micromorphological and diagenetic characteristics, inter-site, intra-site, intra-individual and intra-bone diagenetic variability, and new evidence to enhance successful screening of archaeological
Kontopoulos, Ioannis
Bone diagenesis : the mysteries of the petrous pyramid. The discovery of petrous bone as an excellent repository for ancient biomolecules has been a turning point in biomolecular archaeology, especially in the recovery of ancient genomes. Although the information extracted by the biochemical analyses of petrous bone can be valuable, the processes are destructive, expensive and time consuming, while excessive and uncontrolled sampling could result in loss of this valuable resource for future research. This study reports on the histological (optical microscopy), physical (FTIR-ATR), elemental (CN), biomechanical (nanoindentation) and biochemical (collagen and DNA analysis) preservation of 272 bones spanning from c. 10.000 BC to c. 1850 AD, including 108 petrous bones. Through the combined application of a number of diagenetic parameters (general histological index; infrared splitting factor; carbonate/phosphate ratio; amide/phosphate ratio; col wt. %; % C, % N and C/N of whole bone and collagen; hardness, elastic modulus, % endogenous DNA), new insights into petrous bone micromorphological and diagenetic characteristics, inter-site, intra-site, intra-individual and intra-bone diagenetic variability, and new evidence to enhance successful screening of archaeological
bone diagenesis mystery pyramid discovery bone excellent repository ancient turn_point biomolecular archaeology especially recovery ancient although information extract analysis bone valuable process destructive expensive time consuming excessive uncontrolled sampling could loss valuable resource future_research study_report optical_microscopy physical elemental collagen dna analysis preservation bone span include bone combine application number diagenetic parameter general index infrared factor carbonate phosphate ratio phosphate ratio col org whole bone_collagen endogenous dna new_insight bone micromorphological diagenetic characteristic inter_site intra_site intra individual intra bone diagenetic variability new_evidence enhance successful screening archaeological