Using analytical techniques (LIBS, ICP-AES, UV-Vis and IR) to prescreen archaeological bones for Radiocarbon-Dating

Radiocarbon-dating on archaeological bone collagen could tell the age and other information of the animal or human. The bone with an appropriate concentration of collagen would be considered as a good radiocarbon dating candidate. However, it is not easy to determine collagen level directly. In this study, we used 4 different techniques to prescreen bones for Radiocarbon-Dating. Elemental composition of bones were tested by LIBS and ICP-AES, and then compared with their collagen level by principal component analysis. LIBS result shows that Fe and Ca have strongly negative correlation with bone collagen level, F also has a negative correlation but it is relatively weak, N is the only element that has a positive correlation, although it is very weak correlation. ICP-AES result shows that Fe and Mn have strongly negative correlation with bone collagen level. UV-Vis and IR were also used in this project, by comparing the spectra with the known collagen level, we found out that UV-Vis result shows that the bone solution which has a large absorbance at 475nm and 525nm would be considered as a “bad” candidate, and The “good” bone candidates should have a weak to medium absorption at 1031cm-1 in IR spectra