Archaeological leather samples recovered from the ice field at the
Schnidejoch Pass (altitude 2756 m amsl) in the western Swiss Alps were
studied using optical, chemical molecular and isotopic (delta(13)C and
delta(15)N of the bulk leather, and compound-specific delta(13)C
analyses of the organic-solvent extracted fatty acids) methods to obtain
insight into the origin of the leather and ancient tanning procedures.
For comparison, leathers from modern native animals in alpine
environment (red deer, goat, sheep, chamois, and calf/cow) were analyzed
using the same approach. Optical and electron microscopically
comparisons of Schnidejoch and modern leathers showed that the gross
structure (pattern of collagen fibrils and intra-fibrils material) of
archaeological leather had survived essentially intact for five
millennia. The SEM studies of the hairs from the most important
archaeological find, a Neolithic leather legging, show a wave structure
of the hair cuticle, which is a diagnostic feature for goatskins. The
variations of the bulk delta(13)C and delta(15)N values, and delta(13)C
values of the main fatty acids are within the range expected for
pre-industrial temperate C(3) environment. The archaeological leather
samples contain a mixture of indigenous (from the animal) and exogenous
plant/animal lipids. An important amount of waxy n-alkanes,
n-alkan-1-ols and phytosterols (beta-sitosterol, sitostanol) in all
samples, and abundant biomarker of conifers (nonacosan-10-01) in the
legging leathers clearly indicate that the Neolithic people were active
in a subalpine coniferous forest, and that they used an aqueous extract
of diverse plant material for tanning leather. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd.
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