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Trace elements in buried human bones: intra-population variability of Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca ratios--diet or diagenesis?
Alexander Fabig1, Bernd Herrmann
1Department of Historical Anthropology and Human Ecology, Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, University of Göttingen, Germany.
Die Naturwissenschaften
|June 6, 2002
Abstract:
A comparative analysis of trace element data of human skeletal material from four archaeological sites is presented. We show that the state of histomorphological preservation of bone, which is a measurement for the degree of its diagenetic alteration, closely corresponds to the Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca ratios at an intra-population level. This study challenges the validity of dietary studies that are based on the presently used procedures for sample preparation and subsequent evaluation of strontium and barium concentrations.