Amino acids in California paleoindian skeletons and their use in age and paleodietary determinations

Conference · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1985 · Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Programs; (United States)

OSTI ID:6862880

Bada, J L

Amino acids extracted from fossil bones can be used to evaluate their age and the relative contributions of marine vs terrestrial protein in the paleodiet. However, the reliability of these determinations is directly related to the level of preservation of the proteinaceous material originally present in the bones. In order to better understand how protein diagenesis in bones affects age and paleodiet evaluation, the authors have determined the amino acid content, composition and the extent of aspartic acid racemization in paleoindian skeletons collected from sites around southern San Francisco Bay and in coastal San Diego County. Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon ages and delta/sup 13/C values of the amino acid extracts were also measured. Although all the skeletons have Holocene radiocarbon ages, they found that there were large differences in their amino acid contents, compositions, extent of aspartic acid racemization and delta/sup 13/C values at both localities. The factors responsible for these differences between skeletons of roughly similar age probably include temperature effects from either shallow burial depths or cultural burial practices, catalysis of protein hydrolysis by soil carbonates, selective preservation of non-collagenous bone proteins and contamination by secondary amino acids.

• Research Organization: Univ. of California, San Diego (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6862880
• Report Number(s): CONF-8510489-
• Journal Information: Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Programs; (United States), Vol. 17; Conference: 98. annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, Orlando, FL, USA, 28 Oct 1985
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
CALIFORNIA
FOSSILS
SKELETON
GEOCHEMISTRY
ISOTOPE DATING
AMERICAN INDIANS
AMINO ACIDS
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
DIET
INGESTION
PALEONTOLOGY
PROTEINS
AGE ESTIMATION
BODY
CARBOXYLIC ACIDS
CHEMISTRY
FEDERAL REGION IX
HUMAN POPULATIONS
INTAKE
MINORITY GROUPS
NORTH AMERICA
ORGANIC ACIDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANS
POPULATIONS
USA
580400* - Geochemistry- (-1989)