Analysis by Neutron Activation of Human Bone from the Hellenistic Cemetery at Asine, Greece

Abstract

AbstractAbstractForty samples of bone and four of soil from the Hellenistic nekropolis of Asine, in the NE Peloponnese of Greece, and two samples of modern bone were analyzed. The concentrations of Na, Ca, Br, U, Sc, Cr, Fe, Co, Zn, Sr, and Ba were determined by thermal-neutron activation followed by high-resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy. Concentrations of seven elements (Br, U, Sc, Cr, Fe, Co, and Ba), present at high levels in ancient bone but only at low or undetectable levels in modern bone, were judged to be a result of contamination from the soil. Ribs were significantly more contaminated than femurs, as expected from the greater porosity of the former. Scatter plots of concentrations of Sr against concentrations of Zn in ancient femurs show two distinct clusters. They seem to be divided on the basis of date: one group consists mostly of remains of earlier, the other of later burials. They appear to reflect an increase in the consumption of red meat and coarse, unleavened bread during the later Hellenistic period.