4.5 Article

Presumptive blood test using Hemastix® with EDTA in archaeology

Journal

JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE
Volume 41, Issue -, Pages 230-241

Publisher

ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2013.08.018

Keywords

Hemastix (R); Chemical reagent test strip; EDTA; Blood residue; Haemoglobin; Presumptive test; Method validation; Archaeology

Funding

  1. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canada
  2. Bombardier Canadian Graduate Scholarship program through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

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A presumptive test is a rapid screening method that indicates the possible identity of a substance. To ensure a presumptive test is reliable, accurate and replicable, it has to be validated. In this paper we present a method validation for the cost-effective, presumptive blood test, Hemastix (R) with sodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) specifically for archaeology and buried residues. Hemastix (R), a haemoglobin specific chemical reagent test strip (Hb-CRTS), was used with the addition of a chelating agent (EDTA) which increases the specificity of this test. It was conducted using a collection of 146 substances (plant, animal, metal compounds, chemical solutions including blood), 6 experimentally degraded samples, 177 experimental artefacts, 238 reference samples (on microscope slides) and 39 mixtures of substances. We also compared the Hemastix (R) and (R) with EDTA test to two other Hb-CRTSs (URS-10 and Ch'emstrip (R) 10MD) and two additional presumptive tests, the tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) test and the phenolphthalein test. The results demonstrate that Hemastix (R) is the most specific, sensitive and cost-effective presumptive test evaluated which can be substituted with any other Hb-CRTS. Although the longevity and survival of haemoglobin on archaeological artefacts requires further investigation, the method validation described here supports Hemastix (R) performed with EDTA as being a reliable presumptive test for the presence of residual blood on buried artefacts. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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