This study aimed to examine the degradation of juvenile skeletal remains with respect to adult counterparts from different burial settings in Milan, Italy. A multiscale and multimodal approach was applied to investigate bone diagenesis by combining chemical and mineralogical analyses with synchrotron radiation-based virtual histology. Certain differences could be observed between child and adult skeletal remains; juvenile bones exhibited (i) poorer histological conservation, with prominent general re-organisation of the observed three-dimensional original microstructure, resulting in denser structures with low porosity; (ii) bioapatites with low defective structures, with chemical compositions highly site-sensitive, exhibiting variation even within a single bone; (iii) organic matter highly variable in terms of quality, quantity, and arrangement, even within a single bone sample. Conversely, organic decay results in similar enrichment in calcium content both in juveniles and in adults. In conclusion, the present work points out high intra-individual skeletal preservation in archaeological juvenile bones with respect to adults, thus suggesting that immature and mature bone tissues deteriorate at different rates, foremost as a function of their intrinsic features (shape, porosity, histological structures, etc.), and secondarily under the influence of the burial environment.
Diagenesis of juvenile skeletal remains: A multimodal and multiscale approach to examine the post-mortem decay of children's bones / V. Caruso, N. Marinoni, V. Diella, E. Possenti, L. Mancini, M. Cantaluppi, F. Berna, C. Cattaneo, A. Pavese. - In: JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE. - ISSN 0305-4403. - 135:(2021), pp. 105477.1-105477.12. [10.1016/j.jas.2021.105477]
Diagenesis of juvenile skeletal remains: A multimodal and multiscale approach to examine the post-mortem decay of children's bones
V. Caruso
;N. MarinoniSecondo
;M. Cantaluppi;C. Cattaneo;A. Pavese
2021
Abstract
This study aimed to examine the degradation of juvenile skeletal remains with respect to adult counterparts from different burial settings in Milan, Italy. A multiscale and multimodal approach was applied to investigate bone diagenesis by combining chemical and mineralogical analyses with synchrotron radiation-based virtual histology. Certain differences could be observed between child and adult skeletal remains; juvenile bones exhibited (i) poorer histological conservation, with prominent general re-organisation of the observed three-dimensional original microstructure, resulting in denser structures with low porosity; (ii) bioapatites with low defective structures, with chemical compositions highly site-sensitive, exhibiting variation even within a single bone; (iii) organic matter highly variable in terms of quality, quantity, and arrangement, even within a single bone sample. Conversely, organic decay results in similar enrichment in calcium content both in juveniles and in adults. In conclusion, the present work points out high intra-individual skeletal preservation in archaeological juvenile bones with respect to adults, thus suggesting that immature and mature bone tissues deteriorate at different rates, foremost as a function of their intrinsic features (shape, porosity, histological structures, etc.), and secondarily under the influence of the burial environment.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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