Matthew L. Murray

Diet, Status, and Complex Social Structure in Iron Age Central Europe: Some Contributions of Bone Chemistry

These words by Grahame Clark introduced the second edition of a volume exploring the increasing role of interdisciplinary research on archaeological problems, particularly the evolution of complex forms of human behavior and organization. Since 1970, the applications of scientific methods in archaeology have continued to increase in number. In the past decade, methods based on bone composition, including carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios in bone collagen and trace element concentrations in bone mineral, have been applied to aspects of diet, subsistence and social structure (work summarized in van der Merwe 1982; Klepinger 1984; Price et al. 1985; DeNiro 1987).

Dietary reconstruction from bones treated with preservatives

Abstract Pre-Historic diets may be reconstructed from the chemical and isotopic composition of human bone. Collections of human bone from archaeological contexts have been treated with resins, glues, and varnishes to consolidate and strengthen them. The use of such treated bone in chemical analysis for dietary reconstruction is evaluated. Results are presented of a study of a museum collection that had been treated with a common consolidant, Alvar. Treatments to remove Alvar from bone were successful. In addition, for one collagen preparation technique, such pretreatment was not necessary.