Destruction of microstructure in archaeological bone: a case study from Portugal

Jackes, Mary; Sherburne, Richard; Lubell, David; Barker, C. P.; Wayman, Michael L.

doi:10.1002/oa.583

Cited by 88 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Entire bacterial forms, possibly of the genus Clostridium, have been observed under scanning electron microscopy within Mesolithic bone (Jackes et al 2001). Their size is consistent with pore structures observed in microbial focal destruction (above).…”

Section: Exogenous Biomoleculessupporting

confidence: 72%

The survival of organic matter in bone: a review

et al. 2002

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Section: Exogenous Biomoleculessupporting

confidence: 72%

The survival of organic matter in bone: a review

et al. 2002

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“…This study makes no attempt to identify the micro-organisms responsible for the spongiform porosity. However, the dimensions and pattern of the destructive foci point to bacteria as the most likely agents (Jackes et al, 2001).…”

Section: Comparison Of Archaeological Bones Using Hgipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sub‐micron spongiform porosity is the major ultra‐structural alteration occurring in archaeological bone

Turner‐Walker

Nielsen-Marsh

Syversen

et al. 2002

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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Total pore volume and pore size distribution are indicators of the degree of post-mortem modification of bone. Direct measurements of pore size distribution in archaeological bones using mercury intrusion porosimetry (HgIP) and back scattered scanning electron microscopy (BSE-SEM) reveal a common pattern in the changes seen in degraded bone as compared to modern samples. The estimates of pore size distribution from HgIP and direct measurement from the BSE-SEM images show remarkable correspondence. The coupling of these two independent approaches has allowed the diagenetic porosity changes in human archaeological bone in the >0.01 µm range to be directly imaged, and their relationship to pre-existing physiological pores to be explored. The increase in porosity in the archaeological bones is restricted to two discrete pore ranges. The smaller of these two ranges (0.007-0.1 µm) lies in the range of the collagen fibril (0.1 µm diameter) and is presumably formed by the loss of collagen, whereas the larger pore size distribution is evidence of direct microbial alteration of the bone. HgIP has great potential for the characterization of microbial and chemical alteration of bone.

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“…Hackett (1981, 250) defined four categories of micro-foci of destruction (MFD) that constitute bioerosion. Inoculation experiments established that Wedl tunnelling is caused by saprophytic fungi (Marchiafava et al 1974;Fernández-Jalvo et al 2010) and similar experiments, combined with microscopic analyses of archaeological bone, determined that all three forms of non-Wedl MFD are produced by bacteria (Yoshino et al 1991;Balzer et al 1997;Grupe and Turban-Just 1998;Jackes et al 2001;Dixon et al 2008). Bacterial bioerosion is the predominant form of microbial attack observed within archaeological bone (Nielsen-Marsh and Hedges 2000; Hedges 2002;Jans et al 2004;Nielsen-Marsh et al 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Investigation Into the Relationship Between Funerary Treatment and Bacterial Bioerosion in European Archaeological Human Bone

Booth

2015

Archaeometry

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A central problem in funerary archaeology is interpreting how the corpse was manipulated in the immediate post mortem period. The extent of bacterial bioerosion to the internal bone microstructure has been proposed as a means to infer the early post mortem history of a corpse, as it has been suggested that this form of bone diagenesis is produced by an organism's putrefactive gut bacteria. Under this model, different forms of funerary treatment would be expected to leave characteristic signatures of bioerosion in archaeological bone. Here, we tested the extent to which bacterial bioerosion of ancient human bones reflected funerary treatment, through histological analysis of 301 archaeological human bone thin sections from 25 European archaeological sites. We found that bioerosion was significantly influenced by whether a bone originated from a neonatal individual or an anoxic context. When these remains were excluded, bioerosion was controlled by archaeological phase in a manner consistent with known early post mortem treatment and forensic models of bodily decomposition. These findings suggest that microscopic analyses of bone have useful applications in reconstructions of funerary processes and provide some insight into factors that may control the persistence of organic biomolecules and fossilization.

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Destruction of microstructure in archaeological bone: a case study from Portugal

Cited by 88 publications

References 35 publications

The survival of organic matter in bone: a review

The survival of organic matter in bone: a review

Sub‐micron spongiform porosity is the major ultra‐structural alteration occurring in archaeological bone

An Investigation Into the Relationship Between Funerary Treatment and Bacterial Bioerosion in European Archaeological Human Bone

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