Microbial attack of archaeological bones versus high concentrations of heavy metals in the burial environment. A case study of animal bones from a mediaeval copper workshop in Paris

Decomposition Process and Post Mortem Changes: Review

“…Coffin made of pine and spruce will enhance degradation of corpse while oak, lead and zinc coffin will retard the decomposition process (Fiedler & Graw 2003). Müller et al (2011) also found that coffin that contain high amount of heavy metal can preserve the buried corpse by inhibiting microbial metabolism. However, commercial coffin nowadays actually enhance decomposition because its absorbent property facilitates dissolution of soft tissue and prevent formation of adipocere (Dautartas 2009;Gaudry 2010).…”

Towards a Better Understanding of Alteration Phenomena of Archaeological Bone by a Closer Look at the Organic/Mineral Association at Micro- and Nanoscale. Preliminary Results on Neolithic Samples from Chalain Lake Site 19, Jura, France

“…Th e archaeological layers of the Chalain lake have been rapidly buried under a chalkrich sediments with slightly reducing conditions. It seems that microbial activity, an important diagenetic process to consider especially during early diagenesis [54], is absent and therefore chemical processes play the main role in bone degradation. Th e chalk-rich reducing conditions are very favorable for good collagen preservation, which therefore prevent the mineral bone phase from important alterations.…”

Bone diagenesis at the micro-scale: Bone alteration patterns during multiple burial phases at Al Khiday (Khartoum, Sudan) between the Early Holocene and the II century AD

“…periosteal or endosteal areas or in the proximity of Haversian canals) an average value for HI was assigned. According to literature data (Hackett, 1981;Bell, 1990;Jans et al, 2002;Turner-Walker and Syversen, 2002;Jans et al, 2004;Fernández-Jalvo et al, 2010;Müller et al, 2011) MFD was described as non-Wedl and Wedl foci. Non-Wedl MFD is characterised by areas of high concentration of micro-channels and pores, up to 2 μm in diameter, surrounded by a hyper-mineralised rim, due to dissolution and re-precipitation of bone apatite with a higher density (showing a lighter grey tone on SEM-BSE images) with respect to the surrounding bone, caused by bacterial activity.…”