An Investigation of Bone Preservation as a Result of Environmental and Cultural Variables in Mortuary Contexts

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This study investigates preservation and molecular integrity of bone through an experimental study focused on variation in mortuary practices. The objective of this study examines how different mortuary rituals affect bone preservation, particularly in an area with a freeze/thaw effect, and how simulated mortuary contexts will impact the stable isotope values in bone. Modern pig rib bone samples were used as a proxy for human bone, in order to address these questions. Each sample was incorporated into a uniquely reconstructed burial environment. These environments include burial in a coffin, submersion in freshwater, burial in peat moss to simulate purposeful deposition in peat bogs, simple deposit in soil, ground surface exposure, and cloth wrapping simulating post-mortem body processing/mummification. The methods of the experiment involved recording of pre-analysis control samples for baseline preservation and stable isotope signatures. Results are then compared to the post-depositional samples that have been in their simulated environments through a range of seasonal variation. The results provide insight into the varied factors that can influence bone preservation due to different environmental and culturally constructed mortuary conditions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 41526.0