Use of X-Ray Fluorescence for Elemental Analysis and Resolution of Commingled Remains with the Arch Street Project

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Arch Street Project: Multidisciplinary Research of a Philadelphia Cemetery" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

During early excavations of the Arch Street Project collection, remains were commingled. Reassembling commingled remains is a long, difficult, and technically advanced process that can take years if not decades to complete. This study uses XRF on eight individuals from the Arch Street Project to assess the validity of using elemental analysis to reassociate commingled remains and identify what can be learned from a non-destructive analysis technique such as XRF rather than a traditional destructive method. The analysis identified 15 elements within the eight individuals. The XRF results identify a single unique individual and trends within certain elements. One individual, G-41, contained mercury, along with two other toxic heavy metals, arsenic, and lead. Strontium showed very consistent levels within an individual but distinct, although slight variation between individuals. Lead showed a high degree of variation within and amongst individuals but also a high degree of clustering. Overall, XRF is a useful method of elemental analysis but is not as accurate as destructive methods. While trends and individual variation were present during analysis, XRF did not have sufficient variation amongst individuals to resolve the mock commingling.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Arch Street Project: Multidisciplinary Research of a Philadelphia Cemetery   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38090.0