For many of archaeology’s rarest and most enigmatic bone artifacts (e.g. human remains, bone ornaments, worked bone), the destruction of the 500 mg material necessary for direct accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating on graphite targets would cause irreparable damage; therefore many have not been directly dated. The recently improved gas ion source of the MICADAS (MIni CArbon DAting System) offers a solution to this problem by measuring gaseous samples of 5–100 µg carbon at a level of precision not previously achieved with an AMS gas ion source. We present the results of the first comparison between “routine” graphite dates of ca. 1000 µg C (2–3 mg bone collagen) and dates from aliquots of gaseous samples of <100 µg C (<0.2 mg bone collagen), undertaken with the highest possible precision in mind. The experiment demonstrates the performance of the AixMICADAS in achieving reliable radiocarbon measurements from <0.2 mg collagen samples back to 40,000 14C BP. The technique has great implications for resolving chronological questions for key archaeological artifacts.
We discuss the probable presence of tuberculosis in non-adults of a medieval rural community in northern Italy with a biocultural perspective. Before birth, mother and child have a closely interconnected relationship, as suggested by the role of microchimerism on maternal health. To better understand maternal–child health and related stress factors, paleopathology has investigated the potential of this relationship in recent years. Diseases with environmental development factors such as infections depend on and are strongly affected by maternal control variables such as, for example, breastfeeding and the growth environment. This article presents ISZ2, the second possible case of childhood tuberculosis identified in northeastern Italy through recent paleopathological criteria. The subject is of primary importance as it not only represents a direct testimony of this infectious disease otherwise known only from historical sources, but also increases our knowledge on the state of health of infants in this area, which to date are scarcely analyzed.
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