Collagen deamidation in archaeological bone as an assessment for relative decay rates

Attempts to extend methods for dating archaeological bones beyond that of radiocarbon dating, such as amino acid racemization, have met with limited success owing to the dependence on multiple environmental factors and controls. Despite facing similar challenges, deamidation of glutamine has recently been investigated as a potential indicator of ‘thermal age’ in archaeological bones, as well as a measure of their preservation quality. Here, we analysed bones from different Middle Palaeolithic layers from Grotte Mandrin (France), as well as undertook a series of simulated diagenetic experiments, to investigate whether deamidation can be used as a tool for the relative dating of bones.