The characterisation of fossil bone
This research presents a multi-disciplinary approach to the analysis of ancient bones, in which many different chemical and physical analytical techniques were applied to a relatively small sample of human and animal bones from different depositional environments. The results of these analyses indicate that the principle mechanisms responsible for diagenetic alteration of buried bones are chemical hydrolysis of bone collagen and microscopic tunnelling by saprophytic micro-organisms. These mechanisms, either independently or together, result in an increase in the porosity of the bone at a microscopic scale from a value of approximately 20 percent in fresh bone up to as much as 65 percent in some archaeological bones. There is no evidence that the hydrolysis of collagen in buried bones directly affects the mineral component of bone, although the breaking of the intimate association between the collagen molecules and the bone apatite crystallites exposes the crystallites to potential dissolution and recrystallization by percolating ground water. Disruption of the collagen-apatite bond has been recognised in optical microscopy of thin sections by loss of the characteristic birefringence seen in unaltered bone
Turner-Walker, Gordon Howard
Archaeology
The characterisation of fossil bone. This research presents a multi-disciplinary approach to the analysis of ancient bones, in which many different chemical and physical analytical techniques were applied to a relatively small sample of human and animal bones from different depositional environments. The results of these analyses indicate that the principle mechanisms responsible for diagenetic alteration of buried bones are chemical hydrolysis of bone collagen and microscopic tunnelling by saprophytic micro-organisms. These mechanisms, either independently or together, result in an increase in the porosity of the bone at a microscopic scale from a value of approximately 20 percent in fresh bone up to as much as 65 percent in some archaeological bones. There is no evidence that the hydrolysis of collagen in buried bones directly affects the mineral component of bone, although the breaking of the intimate association between the collagen molecules and the bone apatite crystallites exposes the crystallites to potential dissolution and recrystallization by percolating ground water. Disruption of the collagen-apatite bond has been recognised in optical microscopy of thin sections by loss of the characteristic birefringence seen in unaltered bone
characterisation fossil bone present_multi disciplinary analysis ancient bone many_different chemical physical analytical_technique apply relatively_small sample human_animal bone different depositional environment analysis_indicate principle mechanism responsible diagenetic alteration bury bone chemical bone_collagen microscopic tunnel micro organism mechanism either independently together increase porosity bone microscopic scale value approximately percent fresh bone much percent archaeological_bone evidence collagen bury bone directly affect mineral component bone although break intimate association collagen bone expose potential dissolution ground water disruption collagen bond recognise optical_microscopy thin_section loss characteristic see bone