• bones
• CV-AAS
• elemental
• ICP-MS

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry ( ICP-MS) is an analytical technique which is able of detecting a wide number of elements with atomic mass ranges 7 to 250 (from Li to U) at concentration as low as one part per trillion to 100 milligrams per litre, around 8 orders of magnitude of concentration units. These characteristics, achieved by ionizing the sample with inductively coupled plasma connected with a mass spectrometer, make the ICP-MS the ideal tool for elemental and trace-elemental analysis.
In this thesis ICP-MS was used to carry on elemental analysis on bones date back to XVII-XVIII century, in order to characterize the diet and life style of several people in their last years of life.
The samples were collected from 3 different sites, 14 come from a private chapel in the Franciscan friary of Svendborg and 81 come from a Franciscan friary in Montella (Italy). The Italian samples come from 2 different places of the friary: 35 come from the Iannelli’s private chapel and the others were buried in a sidewalk inside the friary
All the samples date back to the 1600-1700 ca., and the ones taken from the chapels belong to noble families.
For each sample, 21 elements were quantified with ICP-MS, and Hg content was analyzed by CV-AAS, a dedicated instrument for Hg analysis.
In order to achieve information about life style, the data analysis was focused on specific elements that are diet marker such Ba, Sr, Mg, Zn and Ca, and on some elements that are environmental pollution marker as Fe, Mn, Pb. With the help of statistical treatment of the data, especially with the use of PCA (principal component analysis), the samples were divided in 3 main groups according to the burial site. The analysis show also that the samples collected from the chapels had an elemental composition suggesting that the buried people followed a rich protein diet.