Disclosures from a 30,000-year-old burial: elemental mapping of grave goods through complementary and enhanced contrasts

The burial site of Ostuni (Italy) presents a unique Palaeolithic context: the only known grave of a pregnant woman with her 8-month-old fetus, dated to approximately 30,000 years ago. The sediment block of the burial was excavated and preserved under controlled conditions, allowing for the conservation of the material adherent to the body.
This study proposes a non-destructive, multi-technique approach to map the morphology and elemental composition of a compact sediment block that was adhering to the skull, aiming to identify grave goods and determine their use in relation to the mother, which may indicate symbolic or ritual practices. Previous X-ray tomography revealed shells, bone fragments, and unidentified high-density inclusions. However, due to the limitations of X-rays in distinguishing materials with similar densities, neutrons will be employed to enhance contrast and compositional resolution.
This proposal is part of a multi-technique investigation we plan to carry out with neutrons at the INES and IMAT beamlines, and X-rays at Diamond. We propose compositional mapping using NRTI for identifying specific embedded items, defining their elemental composition and distinguishing them from the matrix with enhanced contrast. NRCA will be used to guide the elements' identification in NRTI spectra. Finally, we propose to integrate the NRTI and NRCA results with NAA, which will return quantitative and complementary data for a comprehensive bulk elemental characterisation.