Table Of ContentProceedings in Life Sciences
21.3.87 - 20.3.88
EUROPAISCHES
UMWELTJAHR
Gisela Grupe and Bernd Herrmann (Eds.)
Trace Elements
in Environmental
History
Proceedings of the Symposium held from
June 24th to 26th, 1987, at G6ttingen
With 39 Figures
Springer- Verlag
Berlin Heidelberg New York
London Paris Tokyo
Dr. GISELA GRUPE
Prof. Dr. BERND HERRMANN
Institut fiir Anthropologie der
Georg-August-Universitat
BiirgerstraBe 50
3400 Gottingen, FRG
Supported by Stiftung Volkswagenwerk
ISBN-I 3: 978-3-642-73299-7 e-ISBN-I3: 978-3-642-73297-3
DOl: 10.1007/978-3-642-73297-3
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the
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© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1988
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1988
The use of registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the
absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws
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PREFACE
This book contains the contributions to an European symposium on "Trace Elements in
Environmental History", held from June 24th to 26th at GCittingen, FRG. The confe
rence was organised by the Institute of Anthropology of the Georg August-University in
GCittingen. At first glance, it might be surprising that the organizers are anthropolo
gists. But this is a result of change of paradigm prehistoric anthropology is facing at
the time. For decades, population development and population processes in the past
have been looked at in terms of morphology, thus describing the diversity of human
populations by the outer appearance of the skeletal findings and by the reconstruction
of population structures. The new approach concentrates less on how people in the past
looked like, but moreover on what they did and how they lived. Thus, research is based
on ecosystem-theories, and it aims on the evaluation of ancient ecological features
and past man/environment relationships. Research is encouraged since anthropologists
are asked a lot of questions by historians and social scientists, who became more and
more interested in the history of every day's life. Prehistoric anthropology today focu
ses also on manners, habits, ways of life and environmental constituents as they can
be traced from skeletal remains, which represent an important historical source.
The ecosystemic approach is promising since the experiences of daily life certainly
influence human behaviour, life style and mentality, thus directing reproduction and
therefore population development. In GCittingen especially, we were probably influenced
too by "long lasting effects" of ecologic research at the Georgia Augusta, starting
with Bergmann and Griesebach in the early 19th century.
Within this approach, trace element analysis of ancient human remains is a very useful
tool in reconstructing conditions of life and environmental features, thus giving a
simple answer to the question why this conference was organised by us. However, it
was one of our aims to bring together those European scholars who are experienced
in the field of trace elements in environment and environmental history, for to improve
the exchange of information in this dynamic area of research.
Since there is a common agreement that a lot of basic research still has to be done,
the purpose of the meeting was to discuss basic aspects of trace element analysis of
excavated human remains. In particular, the trace element content of excavated skele
tons is supposed to reflect dietary habits of prehistoric people, including the weaning
age of young infants. It is further supposed to reflect some pathological conditions,
VI
especially heavy metal intoxication. Research is encouraged because as long as the
skeletons are well preserved, trace element contents similar to physiological values
known from modern clinical investigations are found. This holds also true for known
age- and sex-differences of certain trace element contents. It is therefore believed
that trace element analysis of ancient human skeletons reveals several important aspects
of past man/environment relations which might help us in understanding today's con
ditions.
The conference itself was organised around four interlocking headings: aspects of ana
lytical chemistry and problems of analysing biological hard tissues; the factors influen
cing trace element contents in ancient material during the time of interment, including
experimental modelling of long-term phenomena; recent clinical data with respect to
their diagnostic value for ancient material; and, of course, studies in prehistoric and
historic materials. In particular, questions were asked on the kind of information pro
vided by the trace element content of ancient hair and teeth, besides the far more
frequent analysis of bone; the special treatments ancient materials need prior to ana
lysis were mentioned; and we took a closer look both on the discrimination factors
for various elements in the food chain and on more detailed information concerning
palaeopathological diagnosis.
The answers to these questions can only be found by an interdisciplinary approach. We
were therefore very pleased that scientists of various disciplines accepted our invita
tion. Thus anthropologists, analytical and physico-chemists, geochemists, mineralogists,
archaeologists and physicians were discussing the above mentioned topics.
The symposium has been made possible by financial support of the Stiftung Volks
wagenwerk. The National Committee for Environmental Affairs awarded the Logo of
the European Year of Environment. The symposium was also sponsored by CHF Muller
Comp and Perkin-Elmer Compo Our special thanks are due to Mr. Gunter Dege of the
Stiftung Volkswagenwerk and to Dr. Dieter Czeschlik of Springer Verlag and of course
to our colleagues participating in the conference.
Gottingen, October 31st 1987 Gisela Grupe
Bernd Herrmann
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chemical stability of hydroxyapatite under different conditions
H. Newesely 1
Methodical aspects of the determination of Pb, Cd and Mn in foetal bone
M. Hedrich, U. Rosick, P. Bratter, R.L. Bergmann, K.E. Bergmann 17
Alteration of chemical composition of fossil bones by soil processes
and groundwater
C.T. Williams 27
Multielementary analysis of trace elements and preliminary results on
stable isotopes in two Italian prehistoric sites. Methodological aspects.
P. Francalacci and S. Borgognini Tarli 41
Discrimination factors on different trophic levels in relation to the trace
element content in human bones
L. Runia 53
Trace elements in human teeth
T. Molleson 67
Chemical analysis of human dental enamel from archaeological sites
V. Vernois, M. Ung Bao, N. Deschamps 83
Trace element content in prehistoric cremated human remains
B. Herrmann and G. Grupe 91
Trace element contaminations in excavated bones by microorganisms
G. Grupe and H. Piepenbrink 103
VIII
Trace element analysis of human hair
K. Dorner 113
The heavy metal burden in ancient societies
T. Waldron 125
Soil features and human health
I. Thornton 135
The bioavailability of trace elements and age-specific trace
element metabolism
H. Zumkley and C. Spieker 145
The diagnosis of disease by element analysis
O. Oster 151
Proposals and recommendations of the conference concerning future
work on trace elements
G. Grupe (editorial revision) 167
Subject index 171
INVITED PARTICIPANTS
Dr. Luc Buchet Prof. Dr. Heinrich Newesely
Centre de Recherches Archeologiques/CNRS Institut fUr Mineralogie und
Sophia-Antipolis, K ristallographie der TU
F-06565 Val bonne Cedex Ernst-Reuter-Platz 1
D-1000 Berlin 12
Prof. Dr. Klaus Dorner
U nive rsi ta ts-K inde rklinik Dr. Oskar Oster
Schwanenweg 20 Universitatsklinik Mainz
D-2300 Kiel Abt. Klinische Chemie
Langenbeckstr. 1
Dr. Paolo Francalacci D-6500 Mainz
Istituto di Antropologia e Paleontologia Umana
Via S Maria 55 Dr. Lex Runia
1-56100 Pisa Instituut voor Prae- en Protohistorie
University of Amsterdam
Dr. Gisela Grupe Singel 453
Institut fUr Anthropologie NL-1012 WP Amsterdam
Burgerstr. 50
D-3400 Gottingen Dr. lain Thornton
Imperial College of Science and
Dr. Martina Hedrich Technology, Royal School of Mines
Hahn-Meitner-Institut Berlin GmbH UK-London SW7 2BP
Glienicker Str. 100
D-1000 Berlin 39 Dr. Vincent Vernois
Laboratoire d Histologie
I
Prof. Dr. Bernd Herrmann Faculte de Chirurgie Dentaire
Institut fUr Anthropologie Paris V, 1 rue M. A rnoux
Burgerstr. 50 F -92120 Montrouge
D-3400 Gottingen
Dr. Tony Waldron
Dr. Bruno Kaufmann 31 Maidstone Road
Naturhistorisches Museum Bounds Green
Abt. Anthropologie UK-London Nll 2TR
Augustinergasse 2
CH-4001 Basel Dr. Terry Williams
British Museum (Natural History)
Dr. Simon Mays Dept. of Mineralogy
Dept. for Archaeology Cromwell Road
University of Southampton UK-London SW7 5BD
UK-Southampton S09 5NH
Dipl.-Biol. Ursula Wittwer-Backofen
Prof. Dr. Theya Molleson Anthropologisches Institut der
British Museum (Natural History) Universitat, Saarstr.
Dept. for Palaeontology D-6500 Mainz
Cromwell Road
UK-London SW7 5BD Prof. D f. Heinrich Zumkley
Me dizinische Poliklinik
Albert Schweitzer Str. 33
D-4400 Munster
x
-- -
Plate 1: The distribution of lead in stream sediments in England and Wales
(reproduced from Webb et al (1978) by permission of Oxford University Press.
See contribution by I. Thornton, pp 135 - 144)
