Fundamentals of Bone Degradation Chemistry: Collagen is Not "The Way". Issue 3 (18th July 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gillespie, Richard
• Is Part Of: Radiocarbon. Volume 31:Issue 3(1988)
• Page Start: 239
• Page End: 246
• Publication Date: 2016-07-18
• Subjects: Radiocarbon dating -- Periodicals; 930.1028505
• DOI: 10.1017/S0033822200011747
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0033-8222

Abstract

Abstract : Collagen-based pretreatment methods for bone yield inconsistent results for those samples where protein preservation is low, as frequently found in bones from the semi-arid zones of Australia and North America. New methods for dealing with low collagen bones are needed, and this paper suggests that the non-collagenous proteins, particularly the blood proteins, may offer advantages for AMS dating because of their better preservation. Amino-acid profiles of collagen and non-collagenous proteins suggest that such differential preservation may be due to physico-chemical differences, and help to explain the poor results from dating low-collagen bones.