Lambrecht Glenn, Rodríguez de Vera Caterina, Jambrina-Enríquez Margarita, Crevecoeur Isabelle, Gonzalez-Urquijo Jesus, Lazuen Talía, Monnier Gilliane, Pajović Goran, Tostevin Gilbert, Mallol Carolina
Instituto Universitario de Bio-Orgánica Antonio González (IUBO), Universidad de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.
Departamento de Biología Animal, Edafología y Geología, Universidad de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.
Archaeol Anthropol Sci. 2021;13(1):13. doi: 10.1007/s12520-020-01263-3. Epub 2021 Jan 6.
Burned or charred organic matter in anthropogenic combustion features may provide important clues about past human activities related to fire. To interpret archaeological hearths, a correct identification of the organic source material is key. In the present work, Raman spectroscopy is applied to characterise the structural properties of char produced in laboratory heating- and open-fire experiments. This reference data set is compared to analyses of three different archaeological sites with Middle Palaeolithic combustion contexts. The results show that it is possible to determine whether a charred fragment is the product of burning animal-derived matter (e.g. meat) or plant-derived matter (e.g. wood) by plotting a few Raman spectral parameters (i.e. position of G and D bands, and intensity ratios / and / ) against one another. The most effective parameters for discriminating animal- from plant-derived matter are the position of the G band and the / intensity ratio. This method can be applied on raw sample material and on uncovered micromorphological thin sections. The latter greatly compliments micromorphology by providing information about char fragments without any clear morphological characteristics. This study is the first of its kind and may provide archaeologists with a robust new method to distinguish animal- from plant-derived char in thin sections.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12520-020-01263-3.
人为燃烧特征中的燃烧或烧焦有机物可能为过去与火相关的人类活动提供重要线索。要解读考古炉灶，正确识别有机源材料是关键。在本研究中，应用拉曼光谱来表征实验室加热和明火实验中产生的炭的结构特性。将该参考数据集与三个具有旧石器时代中期燃烧背景的不同考古遗址的分析结果进行比较。结果表明，通过将几个拉曼光谱参数（即G带和D带的位置以及强度比ID/IG和I2D/IG）相互绘制，可以确定烧焦碎片是燃烧动物源物质（如肉）还是植物源物质（如木材）的产物。区分动物源物质和植物源物质最有效的参数是G带的位置和ID/IG强度比。该方法可应用于原始样品材料和未覆盖的微观形态薄片。后者通过提供关于没有任何清晰形态特征的炭碎片的信息，极大地补充了微观形态学。本研究尚属首次，可能为考古学家提供一种强大的新方法，以区分薄片中动物源炭和植物源炭。
在线版本包含可在10.1007/s12520-020-01263-3获取的补充材料。
