Microscopical study on estimation of time since death in skeletal remains

Yoshino, Mineo; Kimijima, Tetsuo; Miyasaka, Sachio; Sato, Hajime; Seta, Sueshige

doi:10.1016/0379-0738(91)90074-s

Cited by 92 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…A Japanese experiment involving the burial of human bone for periods up to 15 years (Yoshino et al, 1991) proved that focal destruction is the result of bacterial action. These researchers did not characterize changes to the bone caused by bacterial action, but investigation of the micromorphology of Portuguese Mesolithic bone, led to the discovery of bacteria (Palmer, 1987) which encouraged us to concentrate on this question.…”

Section: Densitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Jackes

Sherburne

Lubell

et al. 2001

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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Sampling of archaeological human bone may not be justified, contrary to former high expectations regarding adult age assessment based on histomorphometry. The alterations in buried bone as a result of bacterial action are readily visible in the scanning electron microscope (SEM). An understanding of the chemical and structural changes to cortical bone requires work at the level of a few microns. This paper reports on problems encountered during analyses of samples of human bone from Mesolithic (ca. 8000 calBP) shell midden sites at Muge in central Portugal, and the methods used to try and overcome these problems. We believe we have shown that these Mesolithic bones are partly comprised of bacterially reprecipitated mineral, which has had collagen removed, with consequent obliteration of bone microstructure. We conclude that microbial destruction of the structure of archaeological bone can be a serious impediment to analysis of the characteristics of the population represented by those skeletal remains. Copyright

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Section: Densitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Jackes

Sherburne

Lubell

et al. 2001

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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“…Microbial deterioration is probably the most common mechanism of bone deterioration (reviewed by Child 1995), and can occur rapidly after death (Yoshino et al 1991;Bell et al 1996). While chemical deterioration is accelerated at extremes of pH or by elevated temperature, microbial activity is optimized at near neutral pH-conditions which would otherwise protect bone.…”

Section: Mechanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

The survival of organic matter in bone: a review

et al. 2002

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“…Early theories regarding the aetiology of bacterial bone bioerosion were concerned with soil micro-organisms (Marchiafava et al 1974;Hackett 1981;Piepenbrink 1986Piepenbrink , 1989Hanson and Buikstra 1987;Yoshino et al 1991;Grupe and Dreses-Werringloer 1993). Successive studies have suggested that non-Wedl MFD are produced by a dead organism's gut bacteria (Child 1995a;Bell et al 1996;Jans et al 2004;Guarino et al 2006;Nielsen-Marsh et al 2007;Hollund et al 2012;White and Booth 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…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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Microscopical study on estimation of time since death in skeletal remains

Cited by 92 publications

References 11 publications

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

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

The survival of organic matter in bone: a review

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

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