DIAGENETIC HISTORY OF WOOLLY MAMMOTH (MAMMUTHUS PRIMIGENIUS) SKELETAL REMAINS FROM THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE CRACOW SPADZISTA STREET (B), SOUTHERN POLAND

Skeletal remains of woolly mammoths have been studied using polarizing microscopy, SEM, XRD, and FTIR to characterize their diagenetic history. Formation of different secondary minerals in the bones is related to changing conditions of chemical diagenesis, both in the sediment and in the bone itself...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Palaios 2012-08, Vol.27 (8), p.541-549
Main Authors: ROGOZ, ANNA, SAWLOWICZ, ZBIGNIEW, WOJTAL, PIOTR
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Apatites
archaeological sites
Bones
Calcite
Canals
Carbonates
Cenozoic
Central Europe
Chordata
Cracow Poland
Crystallinity
diagenesis
Diagenetic processes
Elephantidae
Elephantoidea
Europe
Eutheria
FTIR spectra
Histology
hydroxylapatite
infrared spectra
Mammalia
Mammuthus
Mammuthus primigenius
microstructure
mineral composition
Minerals
Paleolithic
Paleontology
phosphates
Pleistocene
Poland
Proboscidea
Quaternary
Research s
Sediments
SEM data
Spadzista Street
spectra
Stone Age
teeth
Tetrapoda
Theria
upper Paleolithic
upper Pleistocene
Vertebrata
vertebrate
X-ray diffraction data
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Summary:Skeletal remains of woolly mammoths have been studied using polarizing microscopy, SEM, XRD, and FTIR to characterize their diagenetic history. Formation of different secondary minerals in the bones is related to changing conditions of chemical diagenesis, both in the sediment and in the bone itself. Bone voids are commonly infilled with calcite and/or carbonate sediment, and dentinal tubules are coated or infilled with secondary apatite. The latter may have formed during the life of the organism. Some osteocyte lacunae were observed to be coated with Fe-Mn (hydroxy)oxides. The average hydroxylapatite Ca/P ratios are higher (1.78–2.10) than in stoichiometric hydroxylapatite. Hydroxylapatite crystallinity indices are generally low at 0.06–0.12, as expected for the young bones. Some of the bones are partly altered by microbial attack. Different postdepositional events affecting the bones (recrystallization of apatite, bacterial alterations, mineral and sediment infillings and cracking) were distinguished and their succession proposed.
ISSN:0883-1351
1938-5323
DOI:10.2110/palo.2011.p11-115r