Technical Note: Post-burial alteration of bones: Quantitative characterization with solid-state 1H MAS NMR

The identification of markers of the modifications occurring in human bones after death and of the sedimentary and post-sedimentary processes affecting their state of preservation, is of interest for several scientific disciplines. A new index, obtained from spectral deconvolution of the 1H MAS NMR spectra of bones, relating the number of organic protons to the amount of hydrogen nuclei in the OH– groups of bioapatite, is proposed as indicator of the state of preservation of the organic fraction. In the osteological material from three different archaeological sites, this index resulted positively correlated with the extent of collagen loss derived from infrared spectroscopy. Its sensitivity to changes in the physical and chemical characteristics of bone allows to identify distinct diagenetic pathways specific to each site and to distinguish different trajectories within the same site.