Using ATR-FTIR, analytical colour and mercury for unravelling the cremation ritual of Tyresta viking age burial mound (South-Central Sweden)
Dados Bibliográficos
| ID | 7472158 |
|---|---|
| Autores | Marta Colmenares-Prado (0000-0002-7288-7339, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, autor correspondente), Antonio Martínez Cortizas (0000-0003-0430-5760, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela), Cortizas Antonio Martinez, Jan Storå (0000-0001-6319-7857, Stockholm University, autor correspondente), Mattias Pettersson (0000-0003-3260-3730, Stockholm South General Hospital, autor correspondente), Olalla López‐costa (0000-0002-6499-226X), Olalla López-Costas (Stockholm University, autor correspondente) |
| Ano | 2026 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Fascículo | 2 |
| Data de publicação | 2026-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Sim |
| Open Access | Sim |
| Tipo | ARTICLE |
| Periódico | Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Identificadores do periódico | ISSN: 1866-9557 • E-ISSN: 1866-9565 |
| Editora | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s12520-026-02411-x |
| OpenAlex | W7126074697 |
| Idioma | EN |
| Referências citadas | 85 |
The funerary rituals in Viking Age Scandinavia are known by their complexity and diversity including inhumation, boat burials, and cremation. Cremations have been extensively studied macroscopically, but the application of geochemical techniques, although highly informative to investigate cremation in more detail, have not been widely explored yet. In the Viking Age the inclusion of both animals and humans on the funeral pyres makes research challenging. In the present study, we demonstrate the usefulness of molecular analysis (ATR-FTIR), direct mercury analysis (DMA) and analytical colour (in the CIELab space) for the characterization of Viking Age cremated remains of a human individual buried with dogs, a horse, a cat, and other animals – as well as evaluate macroscopic methods for assessing the temperature of burning. We demonstrate that the spectroscopic signal is highly correlated with analytical colour parameters, and with mercury concentration (still present in bones exposed at high temperatures). Mercury concentration was higher in human bones than animals’, suggesting an ante-mortem exposure. Human bones were probably heated at temperatures between 900 and 1100 °C, while animals were cremated at lower temperature. We also identified a secondary cremation in a layer previously interpreted as a badger burrow. A new Mid Infrared index (MIR-index, T PV), is proposed, and we suggest that the cyanamide band is related to oxygen availability during burning. For the macroscopic method, we recommend splitting the white colour category into two based on bone porosity, to better qualify higher temperatures
Archaeological science · Badger · Cinnabar · Human bone · Mercury (programming language · Viking Age · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Forensic Entomology and Diptera Studies · Paleopathology and ancient diseases
Estimating temperature exposure of burnt bone — A methodological review
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Experimental Study on the Origin of Cremated Bone Apatite Carbon
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Carbon Exchanges between Bone Apatite and Fuels during Cremation
Fuel For Lamps
Crystal clear
On the distribution of trace element concentrations in multiple bone elements in 10 Danish medieval and post‐medieval individuals
On histological investigations of cremated human remains
Impact of prolonged heating on the color and crystallinity of bone
Integrating histology in the analysis of multispecies cremations
| Velocidade de citação | historical |
|---|---|
| Altamente citado | Não |