@article{PAR00004161,
  title = {{R}adiocarbon dating of calcined bones : where does the carbon come from ?},
  author = {{Z}azzo, {A}. and {S}ali{\`e}ge, {J}. {F}. and {P}erson, {A}. and {B}oucher, {H}ugues},
  editor = {},
  language = {{ENG}},
  abstract = {{O}ver the past decade, radiocarbon dating of the carbonate contained in the mineral fraction of calcined bones has emerged as a viable alternative to dating skeletal remains in situations where collagen is no longer present. {H}owever, anomalously low, delta {C}-13 values have been reported for calcined bones, suggesting that the mineral fraction of bone is altered. {T}herefore, exchange with other sources of carbon during heating cannot be excluded. {H}ere. we report new results front analyses on cremated bones found in archaeological sites in {A}frica and the {N}ear {E}ast, as well its the results of several experiments aiming at improving our understanding of the fate of mineral and organic carbon of bone during heating. {H}eating of modern bone was carried out at different temperatures, for different durations, and under natural and controlled conditions, and the evolution of several parameters (weight. color, %{C}, %{N}, delta {C}-13 value, carbonate content, crystallinity indexes measured by {XRD} and {FTIR}) was monitored. {R}esults from archaeological sites confirm that calcined bones are unreliable for paleoenvironmental and paleodietary reconstruction using stable isotopes. {E}xperimental results suggest that the carbon remaining in bone after cremation likely comes front the original inorganic pool. highly fractionated due to rapid recrystallization. {T}herefore, its reliability for {C}-14 dating should be seen as close to that of tooth enamel, due to crystallographic properties of calcined bones.},
  keywords = {},
  booktitle = {},
  journal = {{R}adiocarbon},
  volume = {51},
  numero = {2},
  pages = {601--611},
  ISSN = {0033-8222},
  year = {2009},
  URL = {https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/{PAR}00004161},
}