Quantifying archaeo-organic degradation – A multiproxy approach to understand the accelerated deterioration of the ancient organic cultural heritage at the Swedish Mesolithic site Ageröd
Boethius, Adam LU
; Hollund, Hege
; Linderholm, Johan
; Vanhanen, Santeri
; Kjällquist, Mathilda
; Magnell, Ola
LU
and Apel, Jan
LU
(2020)
In PLoS ONE
15(9 September 2020).
- Abstract
Despite a growing body of evidence concerning accelerated organic degradation at archaeological sites, there have been few follow-up investigations to examine the status of the remaining archaeological materials in the ground. To address the question of archaeo-organic preservation, we revisited the Swedish, Mesolithic key-site Ageröd and could show that the bone material had been subjected to an accelerated deterioration during the last 75 years, which had destroyed the bones in the areas where they had previously been best preserved. To understand why this has happened and to quantify and qualify the extent of the organic degradation, we here analyse the soil chemistry, bone histology, collagen preservation and palaeobotany at the... (More)
Despite a growing body of evidence concerning accelerated organic degradation at archaeological sites, there have been few follow-up investigations to examine the status of the remaining archaeological materials in the ground. To address the question of archaeo-organic preservation, we revisited the Swedish, Mesolithic key-site Ageröd and could show that the bone material had been subjected to an accelerated deterioration during the last 75 years, which had destroyed the bones in the areas where they had previously been best preserved. To understand why this has happened and to quantify and qualify the extent of the organic degradation, we here analyse the soil chemistry, bone histology, collagen preservation and palaeobotany at the site. Our results show that the soil at Ageröd is losing, or has already lost, its preservative and buffering qualities, and that pH-values in the still wet areas of the site have dropped to levels where no bone preservation is possible. Our results suggest that this acidification process is enhanced by the release of sulphuric acid as pyrite in the bones oxidizes. While we are still able to find well-preserved palaeobotanical remains, they are also starting to corrode through re-introduced oxygen into the archaeological layers. While some areas of the site have been more protected through redeposited soil on top of the archaeological layers, all areas of Ageröd are rapidly deteriorating. Lastly, while it is still possible to perform molecular analyses on the best-preserved bones from the most protected areas, this opportunity will likely be lost within a few decades. In conclusion, we find that if we, as a society, wish to keep this valuable climatic, environmental and cultural archive, both at Ageröd and elsewhere, the time to act is now and if we wait we will soon be in a situation where this record will be irretrievably lost forever.
(Less)
- author
- Boethius, Adam
LU
; Hollund, Hege
; Linderholm, Johan
; Vanhanen, Santeri
; Kjällquist, Mathilda
; Magnell, Ola
LU
and Apel, Jan
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2020-09
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- PLoS ONE
- volume
- 15
- issue
- 9 September 2020
- article number
- e0239588
- publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85091540445
- pmid:32966345
- ISSN
- 1932-6203
- DOI
- 10.1371/journal.pone.0239588
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 7b3ee929-a1c2-4bfd-ba7f-cf9ddf4fcd2b
- date added to LUP
- 2020-11-20 12:40:38
- date last changed
- 2024-09-19 10:21:55
@article{7b3ee929-a1c2-4bfd-ba7f-cf9ddf4fcd2b,
abstract = {{<p>Despite a growing body of evidence concerning accelerated organic degradation at archaeological sites, there have been few follow-up investigations to examine the status of the remaining archaeological materials in the ground. To address the question of archaeo-organic preservation, we revisited the Swedish, Mesolithic key-site Ageröd and could show that the bone material had been subjected to an accelerated deterioration during the last 75 years, which had destroyed the bones in the areas where they had previously been best preserved. To understand why this has happened and to quantify and qualify the extent of the organic degradation, we here analyse the soil chemistry, bone histology, collagen preservation and palaeobotany at the site. Our results show that the soil at Ageröd is losing, or has already lost, its preservative and buffering qualities, and that pH-values in the still wet areas of the site have dropped to levels where no bone preservation is possible. Our results suggest that this acidification process is enhanced by the release of sulphuric acid as pyrite in the bones oxidizes. While we are still able to find well-preserved palaeobotanical remains, they are also starting to corrode through re-introduced oxygen into the archaeological layers. While some areas of the site have been more protected through redeposited soil on top of the archaeological layers, all areas of Ageröd are rapidly deteriorating. Lastly, while it is still possible to perform molecular analyses on the best-preserved bones from the most protected areas, this opportunity will likely be lost within a few decades. In conclusion, we find that if we, as a society, wish to keep this valuable climatic, environmental and cultural archive, both at Ageröd and elsewhere, the time to act is now and if we wait we will soon be in a situation where this record will be irretrievably lost forever.</p>}},
author = {{Boethius, Adam and Hollund, Hege and Linderholm, Johan and Vanhanen, Santeri and Kjällquist, Mathilda and Magnell, Ola and Apel, Jan}},
issn = {{1932-6203}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{9 September 2020}},
publisher = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
series = {{PLoS ONE}},
title = {{Quantifying archaeo-organic degradation – A multiproxy approach to understand the accelerated deterioration of the ancient organic cultural heritage at the Swedish Mesolithic site Ageröd}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0239588}},
doi = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0239588}},
volume = {{15}},
year = {{2020}},
}