ArticlePloS one2021
These boots are made for burnin': Inferring the position of the corpse and the presence of leather footwears during cremation through isotope (δ13C, δ18O) and infrared (FTIR) analyses of experimentally burnt skeletal remains.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assessing body position through experimental cremation: A pilot study using colorimetry and FTIR-ATR analyses.PloS one · 2026Article
- Determining the roots of Urnfield Culture at Přáslavice, Czech Republic.Archaeological and anthropological sciences · 2026Article
- Integrating Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Multidetector Computed Tomography for Analysis of Heat-Induced Changes in Bone.Materials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Understanding intra-individual isotopic variability in modern cremated human remains for forensic and archaeological studies.PloS one · 2025Article
- The seasonality experiment: Investigating how seasons affect the burning conditions of cremations.PloS one · 2025Article
- Funerary practices of cremation at the megalithic societies of South-Eastern Iberia: The cemetery of Los Milanes.PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- Interpol review of fire debris analysis and fire investigation 2019-2022.Forensic science international. Synergy · 2023Review
- Interglobular dentine attributed to vitamin D deficiency visible in cremated human teeth.Scientific reports · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
17 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Cremation is a complex mortuary practice, involving a number of activities of the living towards the dead before, during, and after the destruction of the bodily soft tissues by fire. The limiting information concerning these behavioral patterns obtained from the pyre remains and/or cremation deposits prevents the reconstruction of the handling of the corpse during the burning process. This pioneering study tries to determine the initial positioning of the corpse in the pyre and assess whether the deceased was wearing closed leather shoes during cremation through isotopic (δ13C, δ18O) and infrared (ATR-FTIR) analyses of experimentally burnt pig remains, used as a proxy for humans. The results obtained show that both the position of feet on or within the pyre and the presence of footwears may moderately-to-highly influence the oxygen isotope ratios of bone apatite carbonates and the cyanamide content of calcined bone in certain situations. By forming a protective layer, shoes appear to temporarily delay the burning of the underlying pig tissues and to increase the heat-shielding effect of the soft tissues protecting the bone mineral fraction. In such case, bioapatite bone carbonates exchange oxygen with a relatively more 18O-depleted atmosphere (due to the influence of lignin-derived oxygen rather than cellulose-derived oxygen), resulting in more pronounced decrease in the δ18Ocarb values during burning of the shoed feet vs. unshoed feet. The shift observed here was as high as 2.5‰. A concomitant isotopic effect of the initial location of the feet in the pyres was also observed, resulting in a top-to-bottom decrease difference in the δ18Ocarb values of shoed feet of about 1.4‰ between each deposition level tested. Finally, the presence of cyanamide (CN/P ≥ 0.02) seems to be indicative of closed footwear since the latter creates favorable conditions for its incorporation into bone apatite.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.