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An Archaeological Mystery Revealed by Radiocarbon Dating of Cross-Flow Nanofiltrated Amino Acids Derived from Bone Collagen, Silk, and Hair: Case Study of the Bishops Baldwin I and Radbot II from Noyon-Tournai

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

Mathieu Boudin ,
Pascal Boeckx ,
Peter Vandenabeele  and
Mark van Strydonck
Mathieu Boudin*
Affiliation:
Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Jubelpark 1, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium Ghent University, Isotope Bioscience Laboratory – ISOFYS, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium
Pascal Boeckx
Affiliation:
Ghent University, Isotope Bioscience Laboratory – ISOFYS, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium
Peter Vandenabeele
Affiliation:
Ghent University, Department of Archaeology, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 35, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium
Mark van Strydonck
Affiliation:
Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Jubelpark 1, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]; [email protected].
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Abstract

Excavations in the cathedral of Tournai revealed two sepultures, which were identified by the excavators as those of bishops because of their special location in the cathedral. One burial was assigned to Baldwin I, who died in AD 1068, because (1) a ring with the inscription “BAL” was found and (2) a funeral stone with text was present on top of the grave mentioning the name Baldewinus. The second burial probably belongs to Radbot II, who was the successor of Baldwin I, and died in AD 1098. Both burials contained textiles (silk), the skeleton, a wooden pastoral staff, and human hair was still present on the skull of what was presumed to be Radbot II. All the protein-containing materials were degraded and/or contaminated. Standard sample pretreatment methods were not able to remove all the contaminants. Single and double cross-flow nanofiltration of the hydrolyzed protein-containing materials were performed. The sample quality for radiocarbon dating was improved and 14C data revealed interesting and surprising results. The 14C dates of the wooden pastoral staff and permeate femur confirm that the skeleton and tomb belong to bishop Baldwin I. The 14C dates of hair and permeate skull indicate that the skeleton may indeed belong to bishop Radbot II. The younger 14C dates of the wooden pastoral staff and silk samples indicate a postburial disturbance of the site burial during the 12th–13th century.

Type
Methodology: Generaland Bones
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , 2014 , pp. 603 - 617
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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