Articlediamond2001

Studies in organic archaeometry III: Prehistoric adhesives: alternatives to birch bark pitch could be ruled out

Fritz Sauter · Aloisia Graf · Christian Hametner · Johannes Fröhlich

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Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis Archaeology and ancient environmental studies Archaeological and Geological Studies

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.

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