Multi-elemental analysis of human bone from Ballyhanna, Co. Donegal

Concentrations of major, minor and trace elements within archaeological bone reflect elemental concentrations in diet and subsistence patterns of the sampled population. Through the determination of a variety of elements (substances, such as iron, that cannot be resolved by chemical means into simpler substances) it is also possible to obtain indications of the various diseases or environmental conditions that a population may have experienced. The various analytical techniques used to measure several elemental concentrations rapidly are generally referred to as multi-elemental analysis techniques. The main objective of this project is to generate quantitative multi-element data to aid in the reconstruction of the diet, environmental conditions and diseases that affected the population of a ‘lost’ medieval cemetery excavated at Ballyhanna, Co. Donegal, in advance of the construction of the N15 Bundoran–Ballyshannon Bypass (Ó Donnchadha 2007; MacDonagh, this volume). In order to generate relevant information it is also necessary to collect additional data in order to correct for interferences from the burial environment and particularly diagenetic factors (those elements originating in soil that are capable of contributing to post-mortem chemical alterations in a bone’s inorganic component). This paper discusses some of the issues (including pitfalls) that must be considered when interpreting elemental results from archaeological bone samples with a view to the reconstruction of palaeodiets.