Ion microprobe analyses of ancient human bone


Ion microprobe analyses of ancient human bone

Jankuhn, S.; Butz, T.; Flagmeyer, R.-H.; Reinert, T.; Vogt, J.; Barckhausen, B.; Hammerl, J.; Protsch Von Zieten, R.; Grambole, D.; Herrmann, F.; Bethge, K.

At the Rossendorf nuclear microprobe facility, a beam of protons with MeV energy was used to analyse ancient human bones of the Merowingian period (6-8th
century AD), Emitted X-rays were detected to determine the elemental composition of the bones and to estimate the influence of the burial environment on the
elemental content of the skeletons, In cross sections of human femora, a different behaviour of the radial distributions of the main and trace elements like P, Ca, Mn,
Fe, Zn, Br, and Sr was observed using lateral-resolved mu PIXE. This result indicates post mortem mineral exchange processes and diagenetic alteration during
burial of bone tissue in soil.

Keywords: microprobe; PIXE; ancient human bone; elemental profiles

  • Lecture (Conference)
    13th Int. Conf. on Ion Beam Analysis (IBA-13), Lissabon, Portugal, July 27 - Aug. 1, 1997
  • Nucl. Instr. Meth. B 136 - 138 (1998) 329

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Publ.-Id: 2403