Genre: Information/Explanation

Wess T , Alberts I , Cameron G , Laurie C , Orgel J , Hiller J , Nielsen Marsh C , De La Cruz Balthazar V , Drakopoulos M , Pollard A M , Collins M. Small angle X-ray scattering reveals changes of bone mineral habit and size in archaeological bone samples . ( 2000 ) Fibre Diffraction Review 9 36-43 X-ray scattering provides a powerful non-destructive technique capable of providing important information about the size , habit and arrangement of mineral crystals in bone . In the case of archaeological bone the changes in the habit of the apatite crystals and recrystallised material may reflect the changes in bone environment that have occurred since death . In the study presented here we have examined a variety of archaeological bones by small-angle X-ray scattering to show the alterations in bone habit that can be adopted after ' diagenetic remodelling ' . Furthermore we show that the use of small-angle scattering microfocus technology allows us to probe into the fine structure alterations that can occur in bone as a result of microbial attack and mineral recrystallisation . The integrity of the bone crystallites has a strong correlation with the ability to extract other biomolecules from bone such as osteocalcin and DNA . Alterations in the crystallite habit may explain the success of macromolecule recovery from archaeological samples .