El análisis químico del sedimento como marcador de procesos diagenéticos en dos fosas comunes del franquismo

The Mass Grave 1 of Villar del Arzobispo and the Row 14 is of the Civil Cemetery of Castelló are two Francoist dictatorship mass graves where 21 and 19 individuals in anatomical connexion where respectively exhumed by ArqueoAntro Scientific Association in 2022 and 2025. In the study the biologic profiles were determined based on age, sex and height according to the standardized physical anthropology applied methods. The taphonomy was quantitative and qualitatively measured, identifying the modifications on the human bones according to the affected bone tissue percentage and calculating the main preservation index, standardized to the Taphonomic Alteration State (TAS). The physic-chemical analyses have been employed to measure the pH, the chemical composition and the ratios (Sr/Ca, Ca/P) using X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF). Results indicated the diagenetic effect of metals increasing the fragmentation of the bone in Castelló, as well as the decalcification and the phosphorus loss due to ionic exchange with the sediment on both cases. This non-destructive analytical methodology has proved an advance on its application to archaeological studies, which can be crucial on the taphonomic criteria to osteologic sample selection for the forensic genetics.