Stable Isotope Chemistry of Bone Collagen and Carbonate Assessed by Bone Density Fractionation

Abstract

This paper presents a stable isotope chemistry of bone collagen and carbonate. Bone carbonate has the potential to provide additional isotopic information. However, it remains controversial as to whether archaeological bone carbonate retains its original biogenic signature. I used a novel application of bone density fractionation and checked the integrity of δ 13 C apa values using radiocarbon dating. Diagenesis in archaeological bone carbonate still remains to be resolved in extracting biogenic information. The combined use of bone density fractionation and differential dissolution method shows a large shift in the δ 13 C apa values. Although δ 13 C apa values are improved in lighter density fractions, a large percentage of contamination in bone carbonate was reported via 14C dating compared to that noted with bone collagen.