Study of modern or ancient collagen and human fossil bones from an archaeological site of middle Nile by thermal analysis and chemometrics

Thermogravimetric (TG-DTG) curves were recorded for 23 different samples of human fossil bones from the El Geili necropolis. An accurate analysis of mass loss of the samples examined at different temperatures during a linear thermal scan between 25 °C and 1000 °C in dynamic air afforded a data set consisting of the thermal parameters of the decomposition processes of collagen and carbonate; this data set was then processed by standard chemometric techniques. The results obtained are discussed and attention is focused in particular on the old or modern collagen thermal breakdown and the possibility of formulating an "archaeometric" assessment that takes into account the often untied conclusions reported in the literature. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.