CURVE-FITTING MICRO-ATR-FTIR STUDIES OF THE AMIDE I AND II BANDS OF TYPE I COLLAGEN IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL BONE MATERIALS

Bone and alike materials, including ivory and antler, havean important place among prehistoric remains as theyrecord a wealth of information on the past ways of life inthe form of morphological and structural changes as wellas in their chemical and isotopic composition. Such materialsgenerally exhibit a high degree of hierarchy and essentiallyconsist of collagen molecules and hydroxyapatitecrystals at the nanoscale. The structure and the chemicalcomposition of archaeological bone material may be modifiedby interactions with the burial environment. The presentwork focuses on the characterisation of structural modificationsof the type I collagen, especially its secondar ystructure, preserved in archaeological bone remainsinduced by diagenesis. Therefore, the potential of ATR-FTIRcombined with curve-fitting of the amide I and II bands isevaluated. Using this method, the conservation state of thecollagen secondar y structure has been determined for wellpreser ved archaeological bone material from Neolithic layersof two stations (19 and 21) at the lake site of Chalain(Jura, France).