Synchrotron microprobe determination of the elemental distribution in human teeth of the Neolithic period

Abstract

The purpose of the present work was to investigate whether the distribution of trace elements in human teeth of the Neolithic period in Portugal can reflect environmental conditions, dietary habits and uptake of some elements from the surrounding soil. An x‐ray fluorescence set‐up with microprobe capabilities, installed at the LURE synchrotron (France), was used for elemental analysis of teeth. The resolution of the synchrotron microprobe was 100 µm and the energy of the incident beam was 18 keV. The synchrotron microprobe concentration profiles for V, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Sr and Pb in different regions of the tooth are discussed and correlated with the results obtained by cranio‐facial studies. The Mn and Fe concentrations were much higher in Neolithic teeth than in those of present humans. This may suggest uptake of both elements from the soil. Low concentration levels of Sr were found, which can be correlated with dietary habits. Moreover, the Pb concentration was very low in all the teeth analysed, in agreement with the low pollution levels of this element in this population. All samples were analysed without any chemical preparation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Reconstruction of human exposure to heavy metals using synchrotron radiation microbeams in prehistoric and modern humans

“…In the past, several methodologies have been applied to analysis of heavy metals in the teeth [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Recently, XRF analysis using synchrotron radiation (SR) microbeams (SRXRF) has been applied to the analyses of tooth enamel [10][11][12].…”

“…Recently, XRF analysis using synchrotron radiation (SR) microbeams (SRXRF) has been applied to the analyses of tooth enamel [10][11][12]. This method uses microbeams and enables us to provide high spatial resolution with much higher sensitivity [10][11][12].…”

“…Specifically, this study has three objectives. First, since the accurate quantification of the amounts of heavy metals is difficult due to the lack of suitable reference materials, we tested whether concentration ratios of various heavy metals are proportional to their absolute concentrations determined by separate analytical methods [11,12]. In this way, we aimed to replace a semi-quantitative method typically used, which simply compares ratios of elements in teeth, with a quantitative method.…”

X‐Ray Fluorescence in Forensic ScienceUpdate based on the original article by Claude Roux and Chris Lennard,Encyclopedia of Analytical Chemistry, © 2000, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

“…environmental conditions, living and dietary habits. (7,88) XRF with triaxial geometry has been successfully applied to the quantitative determination of trace elements in these human hard tissues with very low detection limits (in the μg g −1 range), e.g. 5.3 ± 0.5 μg g −1 Pb in a bone.…”

“…5.3 ± 0.5 μg g −1 Pb in a bone. (6,87) The distribution and quantities of trace elements in bones and teeth have been defined by TXRF and synchrotron microprobe X-ray fluorescence (μ-SRXRF) (6,87,88) with detection limits in the μg g −1 range. Elements of interest are P, Ca, K, Mn, Fe, Cu, Br, Zn, Sr, Ba, and Pb.…”