Mechanisms of lipid preservation in archaeological clay ceramics revealed by mass spectrometry imaging

Hammann S, Scurr DJ, Alexander MR, Cramp LJE (2020)

Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Journal article, Original article

Publication year: 2020

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America National Academy of Sciences

Book Volume: 117

Pages Range: 14688-14693

Journal Issue: 26

URI: https://www.pnas.org/content/117/26/14688

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1922445117

Abstract

Traces of lipids, absorbed and preserved for millennia within the
inorganic matrix of ceramic vessels, act as molecular fossils and
provide manifold information about past people’s subsistence, diet,
and rituals. It is widely assumed that lipids become preserved
after adsorption into nano- to micrometer-sized pores, but to
this day the distribution of these lipids in the ceramics was virtually
unknown, which severely limits our understanding about the
process of lipid preservation. Here we use secondary ion mass
spectrometry (SIMS) imaging for direct in situ analysis of lipids
absorbed in 700- to 2,000-y-old archaeological pottery. After sectioning
from larger sherds, wall cross-sections of smaller fragments
were used for SIMS analysis. Lipids were found in
relatively large zones of 5- to 400-μm diameter, which does not
support the notion of absorption only into individual nanometerscale
pores but indicates that more macroscopic structures in the
ceramics are involved in lipid preservation as well. Furthermore,
lipids were found concentrated on calcium carbonate inclusions in
the ceramics, which suggests that precipitation of fatty acids as
calcium salts is an important aspect of lipid preservation in archaeological
samples. This has important implications for analytical
methods based on extraction of lipids from archaeological ceramics
and needs to be considered to maximize the yield and available
information from each unique sample.

Authors with CRIS profile

Simon Hammann Juniorprofessur für Lebensmittelsicherheit und -qualität (am Henriette Schmidt-Burkhardt Lehrstuhl)

Involved external institutions

University of Bristol GB United Kingdom (GB) University of Nottingham GB United Kingdom (GB)

How to cite

APA:

Hammann, S., Scurr, D.J., Alexander, M.R., & Cramp, L.J.E. (2020). Mechanisms of lipid preservation in archaeological clay ceramics revealed by mass spectrometry imaging. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117(26), 14688-14693. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1922445117

MLA:

Hammann, Simon, et al. "Mechanisms of lipid preservation in archaeological clay ceramics revealed by mass spectrometry imaging." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 117.26 (2020): 14688-14693.

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