Identification and tentative removal of collagen glue in Palaeolithic worked bone objects: implications for ZooMS and radiocarbon dating
L G van der Sluis, K McGrath, F Thil, S Cersoy, J-M Pétillon, A Zazzo · 2023
Read Identification and tentative removal of collagen glue in Palaeolithic worked bone objects: implications for ZooMS and radiocarbon dating by L G van der Sluis, K McGrath, F Thil, S Cersoy, J-M Pétillon, A Zazzo (2023) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-10719399.txt.
Description
Van der Sluis and co-authors tackle a hidden problem in old bone tools in a 2023 archaeology paper. For nearly two centuries, museums glued fragile bone objects with collagen glue to hold them together. That glue can poison later tests, from species checks to radiocarbon dating.
Stone Age bone objects set for dating first gave mixed signals for cattle and whale. Two extraction methods then showed the objects were whale bone coated in cattle glue. Spotting the glue before testing is the key step the paper stresses. Clean samples mean honest dates and species names. Curators of old digs gain a warning and a tested way to strip the glue.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | L G van der Sluis, K McGrath, F Thil, S Cersoy, J-M Pétillon, A Zazzo |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2023 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 48 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |