Diagenetic evolution and experimental heating of bone phosphate

Fresh bone samples have been experimentally heated, with monitoring of the evolution of several parameters. The comparison of these results with a large suite of measurements performed on archaeological and fossil bones gave valuable clues about some possible mechanisms of the diagenetic evolution of bone crystallinity. The main conclusions of this comparison are that (1) bone organic matter protects the mineral phase and thus needs to be significantly altered before crystallographic changes occur, and (2) loss of structural carbonate may be a key factor in the increase of bone crystallinity. The crystallinity of carbonate hydroxylapatite seems to monitor the degree to diagenetic evolution, and thus may be used to detect diagenetic alteration of biogenic paleoenvironmental signals in archaeological and fossil bones, independently of their age.