Poster De Conférence Année : 2025

A metabolomics-guided approach to identify ancient tars in archaeological contexts: Differentiating plant products and production processes

Résumé

Archaeological findings reveal that human have been producing synthetic substances since the Middle Palaeolithic. For example, Neanderthals altered natural materials, such as wood, to produce tars. Unlike natural plant exudates like resin, which visibly oozes from trees as sap, tars are transformative products requiring complex processes such as dry distillation. Similarly, essential oils, derived from wood or leaves, are produced through hydro or steam distillation. Since these substances originate from the same organism, they often share overlapping molecular signatures, posing significant challenges for their differentiation, especially in archaeological contexts where degradation further complicates identification. Despite these difficulties, tars, pitches, and oils have immense archaeological significance. They offer insights into past technologies and materials, having been used historically in shipbuilding, as adhesives and sealants, in medicine and cosmetics, and during mummification processes. Advances in analytical chemistry, particularly metabolomics, provide a novel, holistic approach to studying such archaeological organic materials. By analyzing metabolite profiles, metabolomics allows for the differentiation of closely related plant products and species. This study introduces a novel metabolomics-based approach to identify molecular markers that could help distinguishing between tars, resins, and oils. Its application on modern Cedrus atlantica. allowed us to identify compounds diagnostic of these different substances and their production processes. These markers were subsequently investigated in archaeological samples to determine whether they could be identified, enabling the assignment of the samples to specific products. Our findings demonstrate the potential of metabolomics as a powerful tool for differentiating plant-derived products. By improving the identification of these materials, this research contributes to better understanding the technologies, processes and resources employed by ancient societies, providing a valuable framework for archaeological and heritage studies.

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Dates et versions

hal-05079069 , version 1 (22-05-2025)

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  • HAL Id : hal-05079069 , version 1

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Barbara Huber, Océane Pollet, Lou Spanneut, Lindsay Mas-Normand, Céline Joliot, et al.. A metabolomics-guided approach to identify ancient tars in archaeological contexts: Differentiating plant products and production processes. XXVe GMPCA conference (Groupe des Méthodes Pluridisciplinaires Contribuant à l’Archéologie), Apr 2025, Rouen, France. ⟨hal-05079069⟩
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