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| Titel |
Sr isotope signatures of Austrian trees as a tool for the determination of origin of prehistoric wood |
| VerfasserIn |
Monika Horsky, Johannes Tintner, Michael Grabner, Kerstin Kowarik, Hans Reschreiter, Anton Kern, Thomas Prohaska |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2013
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 15 (2013) |
| Datensatznummer |
250078494
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Wood artefacts from prehistoric times have been preserved in a salt mine environment in
Hallstatt, Austria, for more than 3000 years and thus present a unique archive of information
on past mining industry. Certain findings are assumed to have been traded, so the finding spot
is not equivalent to the growth region of the tree. Therefore, 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratio
measurements have been applied to investigate the origin of these artefacts, in order to allow
conclusions on trade routes.
As a basis for this, modern trees from several selected regions in Austria were
analysed for their Sr isotopic ratios. The regions were chosen based on archaeological
knowledge of settlements in the time period of interest and under consideration of the
geological, climatic and silvicultural situation. Four tree species, which are also
represented in the archaeological finds, were sampled. Thus, the first steps towards a map
of Sr isotopic signatures bioavailable to different trees in Austria are presented
here.
The applicability to the prehistoric findings, however, is challenged by the storage
conditions with respect to inorganic contamination by the repository material. The
extent of penetration of salt into the wood tissue was screened using laser ablation
ICPMS. A decontamination strategy based on acid leaching was developed and
successful separation of contamination and natural strontium could be achieved.
This was shown by measurement of 87Sr/86Sr in leaching solutions and digests of
wood using multi-collector ICPMS. The assumption of non-exhaustive removal of
secondary salts was included into the evaluation by adoption of a mixing curve,
which allows the mathematical extraction of biogenic Sr isotope ratios of the wood
samples. |
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