Abstract:
This study examines the use of x-ray fluorescence, with osteological analysis, in
determining the placement of dissociated bones to identified burials from a disturbed cemetery
in Mississippi. The use of a control group, composed of two complete skeletons from Ball State
University’s Anthropology Department, was used to examine if x-ray fluorescence was a reliable
method for bioarchaeology. The x-ray fluorescence data was analyzed using multivariate
discriminant function analyses of the calcium, titanium, vanadium, chromium, magnesium, iron,
copper, zinc, and potassium data collected. The results of the control group were that 81
percent of the skeletal elements tested were correctly identified to their skeleton suggesting
that the method is acceptable for bioarchaeology. The results of the experimental group
matched 43 percent of the 42 dissociated skeletal elements to single burials by using both x-ray
fluorescence and osteological analyses while 50 percent of the skeletal elements matched to
multiple burials and the remaining seven percent of skeletal elements did not match to any of
the identified burials tested.
