Studies in organic archaeometry III: Prehistoric adhesives: alternatives to birch bark pitch could be ruled out
Year: 2001
Type: article
Abstract: The prehistoric adhesive used in central and northern Europe was most frequently prepared from the bark of the birch by means of a thermic process, usually assumed to have been pyrolysis to yield (via the intermediate step of a tar) a pitch.In order to rule out that the ancient products might have been made either by a simple extraction or -even more simply -by using a natural sap, such starting materials were studied.Although after drying up and heating both showed reasonably good adhesive properties, the 13 C-nmr spectra were remarkably different from those obtained from prehistoric agglutinants, e.g., giving no indication for the presence of betulin.Thus these two conceivable alternatives for the ancient preparation of the material in question can now be ruled out: the prehistoric adhesives can really be considered as pitch, prepared from the bark of the birch.
Source: ARKIVOC
Institution: TU Wien
Language: English
Subfield: Archeology (arts and humanities)
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2330346076