Grupe Gisela, Mauder Markus, Kröger Peer, Lohrer Johannes, Sebald Sidney, Zeiler Manuel, Lang Amei, Söllner Frank
Biozentrum, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany.
Lehrstuhl für Datenbanksysteme und Data Mining, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany.
Anthropol Anz. 2020 Jun 26. doi: 10.1127/anthranz/2020/1183.
Cremated human remains are a rather neglected research substrate in physical anthropology; its investigation is still mainly restricted to the osteological level. The application of archaeometric methods to cremations is limited because the organic skeletal components are fully combusted at high temperatures. Stable isotope ratios of heavy elements such as strontium and lead, however, are thermally stable and permit research targeting questions of mobility, migration, and trade. In many cremations, neither dental remains nor the petrous bone are preserved. In such case, no skeletal element that retains the isotopic signature of childhood is available and compact bone has to be chosen instead. This raises interpretive problems, since due to its slow remodeling rate, compact bone integrates the element uptake over many years prior to death. This can generate a mixed isotope ratio in migrants. Such mixed ratios are no longer compatible with the place of origin, and not yet with the place of recovery. Provenance analysis with a single isotope ratio (mostly Sr/Sr) therefore has its limits. A combination of strontium and lead stable isotopes in cremations generates a multi-dimensional isotopic fingerprint that is however more difficult to interpret. Data mining methods that permit a similarity search are a promising approach. In this paper, possibilities and limitations of stable isotope analysis of cremated finds are discussed together with the substrate-specific methodological and interpretive problems. The research potential is demonstrated by use of selected examples.
在体质人类学中，火化后的人类遗骸是一种相当被忽视的研究对象；对其研究仍主要局限于骨骼层面。考古测量方法在火化遗骸研究中的应用有限，因为骨骼中的有机成分在高温下会完全燃烧。然而，锶和铅等重元素的稳定同位素比率具有热稳定性，可用于研究迁移、流动和贸易等问题。在许多火化遗骸中，牙齿和颞骨均未留存。在这种情况下，由于没有保留童年同位素特征的骨骼元素，只能选择致密骨。这就产生了解释上的问题，因为致密骨的重塑速度缓慢，它整合了死亡前许多年的元素摄取情况。这可能会在移民中产生混合同位素比率。这种混合比率既不符合其出生地，也与发现地不相符。因此，单一同位素比率（主要是锶/锶）的溯源分析存在局限性。火化遗骸中锶和铅稳定同位素的组合会产生一个多维同位素指纹图谱，但更难解释。允许进行相似性搜索的数据挖掘方法是一种很有前景的途径。本文讨论了火化遗骸稳定同位素分析的可能性和局限性，以及特定研究对象所涉及的方法和解释问题。通过一些实例展示了该研究的潜力。
