Study of a seventeenth-century French artificial mummy: autopsical, native, and contrast-injected CT investigations

Colleter, Rozenn; Duchesne, Sylvie; Gérard, Pascale; Dercle, Laurent; Poilpré, Pierre; Gendrot, Véronique; Rousseau, Hervé; Crubézy, Éric; Telmon, Norbert; Mokrane, Fatima-Zohra

doi:10.1007/s00414-018-1830-8

“…His δ 18 O value is a bit high compared to other individuals from Brittany. Diagenesis of the tooth is unlikely to explain the high δ 18 O value because Louis du Plessis' body was partially mummified and buried in a lead coffin [54]. Warmer than usual climate is another possibility for explaining high δ 18 O values in human teeth.…”

Section: Local Humans With Known Identitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We also sampled two local humans whose life has been documented: Louise de Quengo and Louis de Plessis. The first grew up and lived between Rennes and St Hernin (central Brittany, where her heart was probably buried with her husband's body in 1656) [54]. The latter is a local noble who probably spent his life in Rennes or in the Morbihan region, also located in Brittany [48].…”

Section: Archaeological Samples and Study Site 221 Sample Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Triple sulfur-oxygen-strontium isotopes probabilistic geographic assignment of archaeological remains using a novel sulfur isoscape of western Europe

Bataille

¹

,

Jaouen

²

,

Milano

³

et al. 2021

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Sulfur isotope composition of organic tissues is a commonly used tool for gathering information about provenance and diet in archaeology and paleoecology. However, the lack of maps predicting sulfur isotope variations on the landscape limits the possibility to use this isotopic system in quantitative geographic assignments. We compiled a database of 2,680 sulfur isotope analyses in the collagen of archaeological human and animal teeth from 221 individual locations across Western Europe. We used this isotopic compilation and remote sensing data to apply a multivariate machine-learning regression, and to predict sulfur isotope variations across Western Europe. The resulting model shows that sulfur isotope patterns are highly predictable, with 65% of sulfur isotope variations explained using only 4 variables representing marine sulfate deposition and local geological conditions. We used this novel sulfur isoscape and existing strontium and oxygen isoscapes of Western Europe to apply triple isotopes continuous-surface probabilistic geographic assignments to assess the origin of a series of teeth from local animals and humans from Brittany. We accurately and precisely constrained the origin of these individuals to limited regions of Brittany. This approach is broadly transferable to studies in archaeology and paleoecology as illustrated in a companion paper (Colleter et al. 2021).

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“…The local fauna recovered from the dump of the hospital also located on the Sainte Anne square and previously studied by Jaouen et al and Colleter et al [ 26 , 57 ] was also sampled. We also added two local individuals (Louise de Quengo and Louis du Plessis from the 17th c. [ 58 , 59 ]), since no oxygen isotope analyses were previously performed on humans for this site.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The last battle of Anne of Brittany: Solving mass grave through an interdisciplinary approach (paleopathology, biological anthropology, history, multiple isotopes and radiocarbon dating)

Colleter

¹

,

Bataille

²

,

Dabernat

³

et al. 2021

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Mass graves are usually key historical markers with strong incentive for archeological investigations. The identification of individuals buried in mass graves has long benefitted from traditional historical, archaeological, anthropological and paleopathological techniques. The addition of novel methods including genetic, genomic and isotopic geochemistry have renewed interest in solving unidentified mass graves. In this study, we demonstrate that the combined use of these techniques allows the identification of the individuals found in two Breton historical mass graves, where one method alone would not have revealed the importance of this discovery. The skeletons likely belong to soldiers from the two enemy armies who fought during a major event of Breton history: the siege of Rennes in 1491, which ended by the wedding of the Duchess of Brittany with the King of France and signaled the end of the independence of the region. Our study highlights the value of interdisciplinary approaches with a particular emphasis on increasingly accurate isotopic markers. The development of the sulfur isoscape and testing of the triple isotope geographic assignment are detailed in a companion paper [13].

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“…The associated local fauna recovered in the grave and previously studied by Jaouen et al [26] were also sampled. We also added two local individuals (Louise de Quengo and Louis du Plessis from the 17th c. [56, 57]), since no oxygen isotope analyses were previously performed on humans for this site.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The last battle of Anne of Brittany: solving mass grave through an interdisciplinary approach (paleopathology, anthropobiology, history, multiple isotopes and radiocarbon dating)

Colleter

¹

,

Bataille

²

,

Dabernat

³

et al. 2021

Preprint

Self Cite

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Mass graves are usually key historical markers with strong incentive for archeological investigations. The identification of individuals buried in mass graves has long benefitted from traditional historical, archaeological, anthropological and paleopathological techniques. The addition of novel methods including genetic, genomic and isotopic geochemistry have renewed interest in solving unidentified mass graves. In this study, we demonstrate that the combined use of these techniques allows the identification of the individuals found in two Breton historical mass graves, where one method alone would not have revealed the importance of this discovery. The skeletons likely belong to soldiers from the two enemy armies who fought during a major event of Breton history: the siege of Rennes in 1491, which ended by the wedding of the Duchess of Brittany with the King of France and signaled the end of the independence of the region. Our study highlights the value of interdisciplinary approaches with a particular emphasis on increasingly accurate isotopic markers. The development of the sulfur isoscape and testing of the triple isotope geographic assignment are detailed in a companion paper [1].

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Study of a seventeenth-century French artificial mummy: autopsical, native, and contrast-injected CT investigations

Cited by 8 publications

References 34 publications

Triple sulfur-oxygen-strontium isotopes probabilistic geographic assignment of archaeological remains using a novel sulfur isoscape of western Europe

Triple sulfur-oxygen-strontium isotopes probabilistic geographic assignment of archaeological remains using a novel sulfur isoscape of western Europe

The last battle of Anne of Brittany: Solving mass grave through an interdisciplinary approach (paleopathology, biological anthropology, history, multiple isotopes and radiocarbon dating)

The last battle of Anne of Brittany: solving mass grave through an interdisciplinary approach (paleopathology, anthropobiology, history, multiple isotopes and radiocarbon dating)

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