Laboratory-based experimental research into the effect of diagenesis on heated bone: implications and improved tools for the characterisation of ancient fire

Reidsma, Femke H.

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-21622-5

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 51 publications

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“…They can also refer to anthropic actions such as fracturing, burning, production and use of bone tools and ornaments, etc. (from former publications Brain 1981; Stiner 1991, to recent experiments Blasco et al 2014Cáceres et al 2002;Mateo-Lomba et al 2020;Reidsma 2022;Pineda et al 2023). Similarly, associated samples, protocols and images are most often not mentioned as preserved in any institution.…”

Section: What Is a Vertebrate Neotaphonomic Collection?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Importance and role of neotaphonomic collections: the example of microvertebrate and experimental collection management

Christiane,

Emmanuelle,

Pierre

et al. 2023

Historical Biology

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The development of taphonomy has improved our knowledge of site formation and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. It has also stimulated many neotaphonomic analyses that bring clues to some of the alterations and modifications processes of fossilisation and accumulations. This article aims to show that such neotaphonomic analyses and experiments, by generating a lot of valuable material and associate data, need to be integrated into official collections for future preservation. We will focus here upon two examples of neotaphonomic collections: 1 owl pellet microvertebrate collections and 2 collections resulting from experimental work (simulation and monitoring). We detail some problems for incorporating such new type of materials in Museums and some requirements for their curation. In the era of open science, there is a need to improve the management and curation of such unconventional collections to incorporate them into future classical comparative research, training and education as well as exhibitions.

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Section: What Is a Vertebrate Neotaphonomic Collection?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Importance and role of neotaphonomic collections: the example of microvertebrate and experimental collection management

Christiane,

Emmanuelle,

Pierre

et al. 2023

Historical Biology

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Impact of a recent wildfire on tortoises at Cape Point, South Africa, and implications for the interpretation of heated bones in the archaeological record

Stahlschmidt,

Mentzer,

Heinrich

et al. 2023

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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Heat-altered bones are a common occurrence in the archaeological record, and their analysis can provide detailed insights into past fire use behaviors and subsistence strategies. Heat-altered bones, however, may also result from natural fire events such as wildfires that are unrelated to human activity. We currently lack robust reference materials from natural fire events, analyzed using the same methodological approaches as we apply them to archaeological assemblages, that can be used to differentiate between natural and anthropogenic origins of heated materials. Here, we studied an assemblage of 50 tortoises that perished in a brushfire in Cape Point, South Africa. We used a combination of (1) zooarchaeological assessments of heating pattern and (2) infrared spectroscopy including a heating experiment to reconstruct heating temperatures with the aim to document the fire impact on the tortoise remains. For both approaches, we used statistical models to develop and test predictions that can also be applied to archaeological material. Our analyses suggest a quickly moving and low temperature brushfire in the study region with a generally low and superficial heating impact on the tortoise remains. However, we also observed several high-temperature alterations with calcination and speculate that naturally occurring fuel sources controlled the severity of the fire impact. The evidence of heating on the tortoise was unpatterned. We conclude that temperature alone presents a low confidence deciding factor between wildfires and campfires while skeletal heating pattern, in concert with other contextual analysis, may be able to facilitate this distinction with more localized heating signatures for campfires.

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Identifying Palaeolithic birch tar production techniques: challenges from an experimental biomolecular approach

Kozowyk,

Baron,

Langejans

2023

Sci Rep

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The intentional production of birch bark tar by European Neanderthals as early as 190,000 years ago plays an important role in discussions about the technological and behavioural complexity of Pleistocene hominins. However, research is hampered because it is currently unknown how Neanderthals were producing birch tar. There are several different techniques that could have been employed, but these differ in their apparent production complexity, time and resource efficiency. Identifying production processes in the archaeological record is therefore paramount for furthering research on the technical behavioural repertoire. Organic biomarkers, identified with Gas Chromatograph–Mass Spectrometry (GC–MS), have been used to identify possible production processes during the Neolithic. Here we test whether these biomarkers can also distinguish Palaeolithic (aceramic) tar production methods. We produced tar using five different methods and analysed their biomolecular composition with GC–MS. Our results show that the biomarkers used to distinguish Neolithic tar production strategies using ceramic technology cannot be reliably used to identify tar production processes using aceramic Palaeolithic techniques. More experimentation is required to produce a larger reference library of different tars for future comparisons. To achieve this, complete GC–MS datasets must also be made publicly available, as we have done with our data.

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Laboratory-based experimental research into the effect of diagenesis on heated bone: implications and improved tools for the characterisation of ancient fire

Cited by 4 publications

References 51 publications

Importance and role of neotaphonomic collections: the example of microvertebrate and experimental collection management

Importance and role of neotaphonomic collections: the example of microvertebrate and experimental collection management

Impact of a recent wildfire on tortoises at Cape Point, South Africa, and implications for the interpretation of heated bones in the archaeological record

Identifying Palaeolithic birch tar production techniques: challenges from an experimental biomolecular approach

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