Abstract
Near infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetry have been coupled with chemometric exploratory methods in order to investigate ancient (pre-Roman/Roman) human bones from two different necropolises in Central-South Italy (Cavo degli Zucchi and Elea Velia). These findings have been investigated by principal component analysis and they have also been compared with ancient human bones from two Sudanese necropolises (Saggai and Geili). Samples coming from African and European necropolises, mainly differ in two aspects: the burial procedures and their historical period. The ritual applied in the European region involved cremation, while the one applied in the African necropolises did not. Bones from Italian sites (Cavo degli Zucchi and Elea Velia) are Pre-Roman/Roman while the others (from middle Nile) come from the Prehistoric, Meroitic, and Christian Sudanese age. Near infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric measures have been analysed either individually or by a mid-level data-fusion approach. Principal component analysis of the near infrared spectroscopy data allowed differentiation between burnt and unburnt samples, while from the scores plots extracted from the principal component analysis model based on the entire derived thermograms, it was possible to recognize the different clusters related to the various dating of samples. The data-fusion analysis led to considerations similar to those obtained from the model based on thermogravimetry data. Finally, instead of inspecting the entire thermogravimetry curves, principal component analysis was carried out on carbonates, total collagen and water losses only. In this case, the data-fusion approach has led to extremely interesting results; in fact, this model clearly shows that samples group in separate clusters in agreement with their age and the different burial rituals.
Highlights
The determination of the age of ancient human bones is important because it allows the characterization of objects found in tombs and it can be coupled with palaeontological information in order to disclose more about ancient populations.[1]
The 24 samples of ancient bones have been analysed by near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and TG; signals have been collected and exported to Matlab (2015a – The Mathworks, Natick, MA) to perform data analysis using in-house routines or the PLS Toolbox v. 7.02 (Eigenvector Research, Wenatchee, WA)
12 ancient human bones unearthed from two different necropolises located in Italy have been investigated and compared with other 12 remains of human bones coming from two ancient Sudanese burial sites
Summary
The determination of the age of ancient human bones is important because it allows the characterization of objects found in tombs and it can be coupled with palaeontological information in order to disclose more about ancient populations.[1]. Considering recent works in this context, in addition to the two previously mentioned approaches, several involve thermogravimetry (TG); for instance, in Tomassetti et al.,[12] TG has been used to distinguish ancient human bones (thousands years before Christ) from some others from the Christian era, while in Villanueva et al.,[13] thermal analysis has been used to date bone remains. In literature, it is not easy to find studies where fast and non-destructive approaches, such as near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, have been applied to characterize ancient human bones. In Stathopoulou et al.,[14] mid-infrared and NIR spectroscopies have been combined with X-ray diffraction to study bone diagenesis. More generic applications can be found in Cascant et al.,[15] where NIR is used to study the effect of the environment on burned bones, or in Mkukuma et al.,[16] where NIR signals have been used in combination with TG to characterize different varieties of bones on the basis of organic material
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