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

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 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-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Programs; (United States) Journal Volume: 17
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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