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Publications in Scientific Journals:

F. Sauter, U. Jordis, A. Graf, W. Werther, K. Varmuza:
"Studies in organic archaeometry I: Identification of the prehistoric adhesive used by the "Tyrolean Iceman" to fix his weapons";
ARKIVOC, 1 (5) (2000), 735 - 747.



English abstract:
The traces of org. adhesives found in the chalcolithic weapons of the glacier mummy, Oetzi, were investigated. Model pitches were prepd. from a large no. of different trees to prove that these adhesives might be birch bark pitches similar to some other org. materials found in Central and Northern Europe. Sequence of anal. methods was developed to differentiate between the different species of trees. The crucial features of this anal. sequence consisted in the isolation of a characteristic terpene fraction by Kugelroghr distilation, followed by gas chromatog./mass spectroscopy GC/MS) anal. and by application of chemometrics to improve the interpretation of the GC/MS results. Bark of birch were pyrolyzed to produce tar, which on heating was converted into the thermoplastic pitch. The methodol. used showed that Oetzi's weapons were glued by means of a birch bark pitch, due to the presence of large quantities of the terpene, betulin. The origin of this material is in accordance with many other prehistoric pitches which were used in Norhern and Central Europe as polyfunctional material. Results indicate that in prehistoric times, pure birch bark was also the raw materials used for the prepn. of agglutinants.
AN 2001:774508

Created from the Publication Database of the Vienna University of Technology.