Burning Colorsa presentation on cremated

remains

By: Marcelle LaCroixSession 6 Presentation

25 August 2012

Archaeological Interest

Determining if bone has come into contact with fire

Estimating the maximum temperature of the fire

Using changes in color and fracture patterns to estimate the condition of bone

Determing the degree to alteration by burning

cremation of bones

dehydrationrecrystallization

influencing variables Oxygen

availability Duration

of cremation Materials

used

temperature influenceStage Temperature

RangeColor

1 < 285°C Neutral white, pale yellow, yellow

2 285 - 525° C Reddish brown, very dark grey-brown, neutral dark grey, reddish-yellow

3 525 – 645°C Neutral black with some blue and reddish-yellow

4 645-940°C Neutral white with light blue-grey and light grey

5 940+ °C Neutral white with some medium grey amd reddish-yellow

Interpretation of Color Changes

Color Interpretation References

Brown Hemoglobin and/or soil discoloration

Gejvall 1969; Lisowski 1968

Black Carbonized bone due to burning in oxygen starved context

Herrmann 1970

Gray-blue, gray white Pyrolizaed organic components; calcination; complete loss of organic portion and fusion of bone salts

Dokládal 1969, 1970; Mayne Correia 1997

Other colors: green, yellow, pink and red

Burning in the presence of metals including copper, bronze or iron

Dunlop 1978; Gejvall 1969; Lisowski 1968

Taliotic Burial Practices

Cremation at Northern Coast Cave

using different materials copper = pink color iron = green color zinc = yellow color bronze = blue/green

color

Works Cited Buikstra JE and Swegle M. Bone modification due to burning: experimental evidence.

 In Bone Modification, ed. R Bonnichsen and MH Sorg, 247-258. Peopling of the Americas Publications.

Dokládal, M. 1969. Über die heutigen möglichkeiten der personenidentifikation auf grundvon verbrannten knochen. In: Aktuelle kriminologie. Hamburg: Kriminolog Verlag, p.223-246.

Dokládal M 1970. Ergebnisse experimenteller verbrennungen zur feststellung von formund grössenveränderungen von menschenknochen unter fem einfluss von hohen temperaturnen. Anthropologie 8:3-17.

Dunlop J. 1978. Traffic light discoloration in cremated bone. Meidcine, Science and the Law 18:163-173.

Gejvall, N.-G. 1969. Cremations. In: Brothwell, D., and E. Higgs, editors. Science in Archaeology.London: Thames and Hudson, p. 468–479.

Herrmann, B. 1970. Anthroplogische bearbeitung der Leichenbräden von Berlin-Rudow.Ausgrabungen in Berlin 1:61–71.

Pijoan CM, Mansilla J, Leboreiro I. 2007. Thermal alterations in archaeological bones. Archaeometry 49: 713-727.

Stiner MC, Kuhn SL. 1995. Differential burning, recrystallization, and fragmentation of archaaological bone. Journal of Archaeological Science: 22: 223-237.