Testing an Alternative High‐throughput Tool for Investigating Bone Diagenesis: Ftir in Attenuated Total Reflection (Atr) Mode*

Archaeological bone undergoes alterations after burial (diagenesis) that constitute a problem for the survival of archaeological information. A common method to assess this alteration is Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR). However, the commonly applied method (FTIR–KBr) is destructive and sample preparation may influence the results. This paper tests the suitability of FTIR attenuated total reflection (FTIR–ATR), a method not commonly used to investigate bone diagenesis. FTIR–ATR requires less sample preparation and can be non‐destructive, allowing analysis of bone cross‐sections. Modern and archaeological bones were analysed using both methods and different sample preparation methods were tested. The results show that FTIR–ATR has advantages for the rapid assessment of bone diagenesis.