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An Evaluation of Postdepositional Changes in the Trace Element Content of Human Bone

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Dorothy A. Nelson  and
Norman J. Sauer
Dorothy A. Nelson
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824
Norman J. Sauer
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824
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Abstract

A prerequisite to dietary reconstruction based on the trace element content of disinterred bone is the evaluation of postdepositional, or diagenetic, changes in the levels of trace elements contained in the bone. This study describes one method of assessing trace element permeation in disinterred bones from the Black Earth site, Illinois. The levels of several trace elements were determined in 50 samples of bone and associated soil. Correlation coefficients were calculated to evaluate the degree to which variation in the bone levels corresponds to variation in the soil levels. The results suggest that no significant postdepositional exchange of Zn and Mn had occurred at the Black Earth site. Other methods of evaluating permeation and leaching are discussed.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , January 1984 , pp. 141 - 147
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1984

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References

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