Lying through your teeth : strontium diagenesis in archaeological enamel
Strontium isotopes are one of the most effective means to characterise mobility in past societies. However the technique proceeds on the basis that Sr recovered from archaeological calcified tissues is biogenic in origin and has not been contaminated by exogenous Sr. Whilst archaeological bone has been shown to be susceptible to uptake of diagenetic Sr, enamel appears to be resistant to alteration. However tooth enamel is the same mineral as bone and is in contact with the same burial environment so why should it be completely immune to diagenesis? This thesis attempts to investigate Sr uptake in archaeological enamel. From an assessment of the literature and trace element uptake models it is clear that uptake of diagenetic Sr into teeth will cause mixing of diagenetic and biogenic Sr in enamel. Thus detection of diagenetic Sr in teeth requires accurate and precise measurements of âžâ·Sr/âžâ¶Sr with high spatial resolution. LA-MC-ICP-MS is ideally suited to this but its application to bioapatites is challenging due to isobaric interferences. Here a method is presented which uses a customised plasma interface to reduce the effect of isobaric interferences and enable accurate and precise determinations of
Lewis, Jamie
Lying through your teeth : strontium diagenesis in archaeological enamel. Strontium isotopes are one of the most effective means to characterise mobility in past societies. However the technique proceeds on the basis that Sr recovered from archaeological calcified tissues is biogenic in origin and has not been contaminated by exogenous Sr. Whilst archaeological bone has been shown to be susceptible to uptake of diagenetic Sr, enamel appears to be resistant to alteration. However tooth enamel is the same mineral as bone and is in contact with the same burial environment so why should it be completely immune to diagenesis? This thesis attempts to investigate Sr uptake in archaeological enamel. From an assessment of the literature and trace element uptake models it is clear that uptake of diagenetic Sr into teeth will cause mixing of diagenetic and biogenic Sr in enamel. Thus detection of diagenetic Sr in teeth requires accurate and precise measurements of âžâ·Sr/âžâ¶Sr with high spatial resolution. LA-MC-ICP-MS is ideally suited to this but its application to bioapatites is challenging due to isobaric interferences. Here a method is presented which uses a customised plasma interface to reduce the effect of isobaric interferences and enable accurate and precise determinations of
teeth strontium diagenesis archaeological enamel strontium isotopes effective_mean characterise mobility past_society however technique proceeds basis recover_archaeological tissue origin whilst archaeological_bone show susceptible uptake diagenetic enamel appear resistant alteration however tooth_enamel mineral bone contact burial_environment completely immune diagenesis attempt_investigate uptake archaeological enamel assessment literature trace_element uptake model clear uptake diagenetic teeth cause mix diagenetic enamel thus detection diagenetic teeth require accurate precise measurement high spatial resolution icp ideally suit application challenge due interference method present plasma interface reduce effect interference enable accurate precise determination