Reconstructing ancient Near Eastern funerary practices through biomolecular isotopic and elemental analysis of anthropogenic sediments from the Royal Tomb at Qatna, Syria
On its discovery in 2002, the subterranean Bronze Age royal tomb at Qatna was found to exhibit substantial darkened areas of sediment deposited upon the floor. The co-occurrence of archaeological artefacts and lack of evidence of external disturbance, suggested these to be anthropogenic in nature, likely corresponding to the residues of degraded funerary assemblages. Due to the poor state of morphological preservation of organic materials, analyses were undertaken of these unique sediments at the molecular and elemental level, in order to assess their value as a 'chemical sink' of human funerary ritual activity. Determination of the elemental composition of the darkened sediments revealed extensive enhancement of organic C (0.08% - 7.60%), N (0 - 1.02 %) and P (2889 - 45415 ppm), relative to control samples, thereby confirming their organic nature and identifying the main areas of activity. The main focus of this study was assessment of the biomolecular composition of the sediments as a means of detecting specific source organic materials. Examination of lipid extracts of the sediments through GC and GC/MS analysis, revealed lipid distributions indicative of complex mixtures of organic matter. Widespread input
James, Matthew Anthony
Reconstructing ancient Near Eastern funerary practices through biomolecular isotopic and elemental analysis of anthropogenic sediments from the Royal Tomb at Qatna, Syria. On its discovery in 2002, the subterranean Bronze Age royal tomb at Qatna was found to exhibit substantial darkened areas of sediment deposited upon the floor. The co-occurrence of archaeological artefacts and lack of evidence of external disturbance, suggested these to be anthropogenic in nature, likely corresponding to the residues of degraded funerary assemblages. Due to the poor state of morphological preservation of organic materials, analyses were undertaken of these unique sediments at the molecular and elemental level, in order to assess their value as a 'chemical sink' of human funerary ritual activity. Determination of the elemental composition of the darkened sediments revealed extensive enhancement of organic C (0.08% - 7.60%), N (0 - 1.02 %) and P (2889 - 45415 ppm), relative to control samples, thereby confirming their organic nature and identifying the main areas of activity. The main focus of this study was assessment of the biomolecular composition of the sediments as a means of detecting specific source organic materials. Examination of lipid extracts of the sediments through GC and GC/MS analysis, revealed lipid distributions indicative of complex mixtures of organic matter. Widespread input
reconstructing ancient_near eastern funerary_practice biomolecular isotopic elemental_analysis anthropogenic sediment royal tomb syria discovery subterranean bronze_age royal tomb find exhibit substantial area sediment deposit upon floor co_occurrence archaeological_artefact lack_evidence external disturbance suggest anthropogenic nature likely correspond residue degrade funerary assemblage due poor state morphological preservation organic material analyse undertaken unique sediment molecular elemental level order_ass value chemical human funerary_ritual activity determination elemental_composition sediment reveal extensive enhancement organic ppm relative control sample thereby confirm organic nature identify main_area activity main_focus study assessment biomolecular composition sediment mean detect specific source organic_material examination lipid extract sediment org analysis_reveal lipid distribution indicative complex mixture organic_matter widespread input