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The impact of moderate heating on human bones: an infrared and neutron spectroscopy study

This study aims to analyse human bones exposed to low/medium temperatures (200–650°C) under experimentally controlled conditions, both oxidizing and reducing, using complementary optical and neutron vibrational spectroscopy techniques. Clear differences were observed between the aerobically and anae...

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Autores principales: Marques, M. P. M., Batista de Carvalho, L. A. E., Gonçalves, D., Cunha, E., Parker, S. F.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8548792/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34729208
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.210774
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author Marques, M. P. M.
Batista de Carvalho, L. A. E.
Gonçalves, D.
Cunha, E.
Parker, S. F.
author_facet Marques, M. P. M.
Batista de Carvalho, L. A. E.
Gonçalves, D.
Cunha, E.
Parker, S. F.
author_sort Marques, M. P. M.
collection PubMed
description This study aims to analyse human bones exposed to low/medium temperatures (200–650°C) under experimentally controlled conditions, both oxidizing and reducing, using complementary optical and neutron vibrational spectroscopy techniques. Clear differences were observed between the aerobically and anaerobically heated bones. The organic constituents disappeared at lower temperatures for the former (ca 300°C), while they lingered for higher temperatures in anaerobic environments (ca 450–550°C). Unsaturated non-graphitizing carbon species (chars) were detected mainly for anaerobically heated samples, and cyanamide formation occurred only at 650°C in reducing settings. Overall, the main changes were observed from 300 to 400°C in anaerobic conditions and from 450 to 500°C in aerobic environments. The present results enabled the identification of specific spectroscopic biomarkers of the effect of moderate temperatures (less than or equal to 650°C) on human bone, thus contributing to a better characterization of forensic and archaeological skeletal remains subject to heating under distinct environmental settings. In particular, these data may provide information regarding cannibalism or ancient bone boiling and defleshing rituals.
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spelling pubmed-85487922021-11-01 The impact of moderate heating on human bones: an infrared and neutron spectroscopy study Marques, M. P. M. Batista de Carvalho, L. A. E. Gonçalves, D. Cunha, E. Parker, S. F. R Soc Open Sci Chemistry This study aims to analyse human bones exposed to low/medium temperatures (200–650°C) under experimentally controlled conditions, both oxidizing and reducing, using complementary optical and neutron vibrational spectroscopy techniques. Clear differences were observed between the aerobically and anaerobically heated bones. The organic constituents disappeared at lower temperatures for the former (ca 300°C), while they lingered for higher temperatures in anaerobic environments (ca 450–550°C). Unsaturated non-graphitizing carbon species (chars) were detected mainly for anaerobically heated samples, and cyanamide formation occurred only at 650°C in reducing settings. Overall, the main changes were observed from 300 to 400°C in anaerobic conditions and from 450 to 500°C in aerobic environments. The present results enabled the identification of specific spectroscopic biomarkers of the effect of moderate temperatures (less than or equal to 650°C) on human bone, thus contributing to a better characterization of forensic and archaeological skeletal remains subject to heating under distinct environmental settings. In particular, these data may provide information regarding cannibalism or ancient bone boiling and defleshing rituals. The Royal Society 2021-10-27 /pmc/articles/PMC8548792/ /pubmed/34729208 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.210774 Text en © 2021 The Authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Chemistry
Marques, M. P. M.
Batista de Carvalho, L. A. E.
Gonçalves, D.
Cunha, E.
Parker, S. F.
The impact of moderate heating on human bones: an infrared and neutron spectroscopy study
title The impact of moderate heating on human bones: an infrared and neutron spectroscopy study
title_full The impact of moderate heating on human bones: an infrared and neutron spectroscopy study
title_fullStr The impact of moderate heating on human bones: an infrared and neutron spectroscopy study
title_full_unstemmed The impact of moderate heating on human bones: an infrared and neutron spectroscopy study
title_short The impact of moderate heating on human bones: an infrared and neutron spectroscopy study
title_sort impact of moderate heating on human bones: an infrared and neutron spectroscopy study
topic Chemistry
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8548792/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34729208
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.210774
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