TY - JOUR
T1 - Ancient bone collagen assessment by hand-held vibrational spectroscopy
AU - Pestle, William J.
AU - Ahmad, Fakhra
AU - Vesper, Benjamin J.
AU - Cordell, Geoffrey A.
AU - Colvard, Michael D.
N1 - Funding Information:
This material is based on research sponsored by the Air Force Surgeon General's Office under agreement number FA7014-09-2-0003. The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Governmental purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation thereon. The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of the Air Force Surgeon General's Office or the U.S. Government.
Funding Information:
The authors also wish to acknowledge the support of the Department of Oral Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences at the College of Dentistry at the University of Illinois at Chicago , in particular the Multidisciplinary Oral Science Training (MOST) program (Grant #1R25DE022675), which funded the research of FA .
Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2014/2
Y1 - 2014/2
N2 - Radiometric, isotopic, proteomic, and genetic studies of bone collagen are mainstays of archaeometric analysis. All four techniques are destructive and require substantial laboratory, temporal, and financial commitments. Because such analyses are predicated on the presence of a sufficient quantity of unaltered proteins (i.e. collagen), the development and validation of tools for the rapid, non-destructive, in situ analysis of collagen content could yield measurable benefits. In the present work, the results of a preliminary, proof-of-concept study on the utility of four hand-held vibrational spectroscopic instruments, one Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer and three Raman spectrometers (two with an excitation wavelength of 785nm, and one with an excitation wavelength of 1030nm), for analyzing the collagen content of archaeological bones are described. While the FTIR and 785nm Raman devices showed little or no ability to discriminate between well- and poorly-preserved bone, the application of hand-held 1030nm Raman spectroscopy appears to be well-suited for such a task. The ability to detect a measurable and characteristic spectroscopic peak associated with the δCH2 scissoring of Type I collagen in high-yielding, raw bone samples opens the door to the utilization of this technology in field research environments.
AB - Radiometric, isotopic, proteomic, and genetic studies of bone collagen are mainstays of archaeometric analysis. All four techniques are destructive and require substantial laboratory, temporal, and financial commitments. Because such analyses are predicated on the presence of a sufficient quantity of unaltered proteins (i.e. collagen), the development and validation of tools for the rapid, non-destructive, in situ analysis of collagen content could yield measurable benefits. In the present work, the results of a preliminary, proof-of-concept study on the utility of four hand-held vibrational spectroscopic instruments, one Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer and three Raman spectrometers (two with an excitation wavelength of 785nm, and one with an excitation wavelength of 1030nm), for analyzing the collagen content of archaeological bones are described. While the FTIR and 785nm Raman devices showed little or no ability to discriminate between well- and poorly-preserved bone, the application of hand-held 1030nm Raman spectroscopy appears to be well-suited for such a task. The ability to detect a measurable and characteristic spectroscopic peak associated with the δCH2 scissoring of Type I collagen in high-yielding, raw bone samples opens the door to the utilization of this technology in field research environments.
KW - ADNA
KW - Collagen
KW - FTIR
KW - Radiocarbon
KW - Raman spectroscopy
KW - Stable isotope
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jas.2013.11.014
DO - 10.1016/j.jas.2013.11.014
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84890391320
VL - 42
SP - 381
EP - 389
JO - Journal of Archaeological Science
JF - Journal of Archaeological Science
SN - 0305-4403
IS - 1
ER -