A team of researchers from Poland and Portugal investigated cremated human remains recovered from prehistoric funerary urns discovered in northern Poland. Using, among other techniques, infrared spectroscopy at the CIRI beamline of the SOLARIS Centre, the scientists found that water availability within the urns played a key role in the chemical transformations occurring in bones after cremation. Their findings provide new insights into post-burial processes and contribute to a better understanding of ancient funerary practices.
Bone is a valuable source of information about the past. By studying skeletal remains, archaeologists and anthropologists can reconstruct the diet, health status, and migration patterns of ancient populations. During the Iron Age in present-day Poland, cremation was the dominant funerary practice. The cremated remains were subsequently deposited in ceramic urns or directly in the ground.
Exposure to high temperatures causes a series of physicochemical changes in bone. First, the organic components, including lipids and proteins, undergo degradation. At temperatures above 700 °C, the mineral phase of bone, known as bioapatite, recrystallizes. After burial, the degradation continues over hundreds or even thousands of years. The course of bone diagenesis is influenced by numerous factors, including time, pH, and the chemical composition of sediments filling the urns. Understanding these processes is essential for reconstructing ancient cremation practices.
A team of researchers investigated cremated human remains and associated soil sediments from four prehistoric funerary urns recovered from well-preserved cemeteries dating to the Iron Age and the Roman Period in Czarnówko and Miłoszewo, northern Poland. Two urns had intact lids, one was partially covered, and one remained uncovered.
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Image: Results of chemometric analysis of FT-IR spectra of bones from open and closed urns U1 and U3. Photograph of the cist grave from Czarnówko. Photos of urns U1 and U3.