Identification of trace metals and potential anthropogenic influences on the historic New York African Burial Ground population: A pXRF technology approach

The New York African Burial Ground (NYABG) is the country’s oldest and largest burial site of free and enslaved Africans. Re-discovered in 1991, this site provided evidence of the biological and cultural existence of a 17(th) and 18(th) Century historic population viewing their skeletal remains. However, the skeletal remains were reburied in October 2003 and are unavailable for further investigation. The analysis of grave soil samples with modern technology allows for the assessment of trace metal presence. Portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometry provides a semi-quantitative and non-destructive method to identify trace metals of this population and in the surrounding environment. Sixty-five NYABG soil samples were analyzed on a handheld Bruker Tracer III- SD XRF with 40 kV of voltage and a 30μA current. Presence of As, Cu, and Zn can potentially decipher the influence of the local 18(th) Century pottery factories. Elevated levels of Sr validate the assumed heavy vegetative diets of poor and enslaved Africans of the time. Decreased levels of Ca may be due in part to the proximity of the Collect Pond, the existing water table until the early 19(th) Century, and Manhattan’s rising sea level causing an elevated water table washing away the leached Ca from human remains. These data help us reconstruct the lives of these early Americans in what became New York City.