フィッション・トラック法による骨のウラン分析とその考古学的応用
1978 年 17 巻 2 号 p. 95-104
詳細
1978 年 17 巻 2 号 p. 95-104
Spatial variations in uranium concentration (unit area: 0.25mm in length, 0.5mm in width) from the outside to the inside of Substantia compacta were examined at some points of a given specimen of long bone using fission track techniques. An investigation was also made on the relation between the thickness of compact bone and the uranium content. The results obtained (Table 3, Figs. 3-7) suggest that the maximum uranium concentration of each sample is an adequate indicator for relative dating of fossil bones.
The uranium content (maximum) of animal bones from the Kannondo cave site reveals a tendency to increase with their horizons (Fig. 8) and shows no strict correlation with the fluorine content (Fig. 9), it confirming the significance of using the two concentrations of buried skeletal remains together as pointers to age.
There were presented further applications of uranium and fluorine content in bones to estimating such disturbances in archaeological deposits as caused by human activities (see Figs. 10-11), and of the changes in uranium concentration profiles (see Figs. 3-5) to dating bones from postglacial deposits.
