Human soft tissue preservation in the Cova des Pas site (Minorca Bronze Age)

The preservation process of soft tissues in an archeological context is mainly unknown because they occur only in truly exceptional situations. The Cova des Pas is a Bronze Age site in Minorca where the special conditions enabled the preservation of some soft tissues associated with 66 individuals. This finding allows the study of the preservation process that took place by means of the analysis of the histological and chemical characteristics of the tissues. Our results show that the preservation mechanism was the adipocere, because the fatty acids profile shows higher concentration of saturated than unsaturated fatty acids. The evidence indicates that the kind of funerary ritual and the environmental conditions favored this preservation.     

关于《嘉禾吏民田家莂》中“州吏”问题的剖析——兼论嘉禾五年改革及其效果

《嘉禾四年吏民田家莂》中的内容反映出嘉禾四年吏民田家莉中的“州吏”具有不同于其他租田的五大特征,在与五年田家莂的比较中,“州吏”的情况发生了许多变化,即“州吏”在嘉禾四年为特殊租田的优异身份在五年消失了,而与其他租田趋于同化。嘉禾五年“库吏”、“仓吏”人数的增加反映出嘉禾五年有加强仓库管理的举措。嘉禾五年的改革,使租佃制度得到发展,租佃土地的地区扩大、租佃数量增加、仓库的管理也大为加强,田家莂书写的错误率大大降低了。     

As the Worm Turns: An Enigmatic Calcified Object as Pseudopathology

A putative calcified soft tissue or parasite recovered in the pelvis of an adult male Late Roman burial from Aqaba, Jordan, is a fossil marine invertebrate. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Differential diagnosis of a calcified object from a 4th–5th century AD burial in Aqaba,Jordan

In 1997 a calcified object was recovered from the pelvic region of an adult male excavated from an ancient cemetery in Aqaba, Jordan. The cemetery (n = 48) dates to the middle 4th to early 5th century AD and is associated with the Byzantine‐period marine trading centre of Aila located on the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea. The oblong calcification consisted of linearly aligned tubules within a thin shell. Twenty‐eight conditions potentially resulting in calcification within the pelvic region were considered. Of these, five were retained as possible diagnoses due to the object's location and size and the presence of a thin shell and fully calcified tubules. In the end, the object appears to be a calcified, but unidentified, parasite. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Perimortem trauma in the Atacama Desert and social violence during the late Formative period (2500–1700 years BP)

This paper describes a case of a mass grave containing three naturally mummified adults with multiple traumas to the skeletal and soft tissues, buried in an isolated and informal grave in one of the valleys that traverses the Atacama Desert, north of Chile. These traumas do not appear to be indicative of post‐depositional alterations. Instead, we hypothesise that the observed marks correspond to lethal perimortem trauma, the result of acts of extreme violence brought to bear on the three individuals. Three radiocarbon dates from the site identify that the burial occurred circa 2000 BP in the Azapa Valley, which corresponds to an epoch of important cultural changes linked to the development of farming communities that broke away from an ancient marine hunter–gatherer cultural tradition. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

“Copper people” of the bronze age: The reconstruction of their health and social status

“After you shall arise another kingdom inferior to you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth” Dan. 2: 39 The Metal Age opened up new prospects for mankind and led to the emergence of a new category of professionals – miners, founders, smiths. With relation to the Bronze Age, these may be called “copper people.” The article explores new methods that can be used to identify their skeletal remains in museum collections. Based on biological data, certain aspects of the lifestyle of a male (presumably a smith) buried in an Abashevo collective grave at Pepkino, the Republic of Mari-El, Volga Federal District, and of other individuals buried in the same grave are reconstructed. Morphological, paleopathological, radiographic, and computer tomography examination of skeletal remains, as well as the results of histological, atomic absorption, and isotopic analyses of bone tissue provide information concerning diet, physiological stress, beginning of professional specialization, and the effects of heavy physical stress on their health status.     

Exceptional preservation of a prehistoric human brain from Heslington,Yorkshire, UK

Archaeological work in advance of construction at a site on the edge of York, UK, yielded human remains of prehistoric to Romano-British date. Amongst these was a mandible and cranium, the intra-cranial space of which contained shrunken but macroscopically recognizable remains of a brain. Although the distinctive surface morphology of the organ is preserved, little recognizable brain histology survives. Though rare, the survival of brain tissue in otherwise skeletalised human remains from wet burial environments is not unique. A survey of the literature shows that similar brain masses have been previously reported in diverse circumstances. We argue for a greater awareness of these brain masses and for more attention to be paid to their detection and identification in order to improve the reporting rate and to allow a more comprehensive study of this rare archaeological survival.     

Artists working with life (sciences) in contestable settings

ABSTRACT

As technology is becoming more lifelike and life is becoming a technology, there is a growing need to culturally scrutinize and articulate the meaning(s) of the concept of life. This happens at a time when fact and fake are becoming interchangeable, and the rhetoric of control over complex systems suggests fantasies about human desire for full dominance over the unintentional and constructed world. When it comes to the concept of life, who is calling the shots? This paper aims to explore the complexities in the relations between meaning makers (let us call them artists), fact makers (let us call them scientists), tool makers (let us call them engineers) and money makers (let us call them opportunists), especially as they relate to the idea of life. Life – an enigmatic concept – is always going through changes, physically and conceptually. How do we understand and articulate these changes through the work of artists using the tools of the fact makers to manipulate living bodies or their parts? What is the role artists play across the boundaries of fact, fiction, exploitation and care? In particular, we ask how art can avoid becoming instrumentalized in the service of the opportunists and the tool makers.     

Microscopic configurations on the bare‐bone surfaces of mammalian synovial joints

The smoothness characteristic of synovial joint surfaces of bare bones is shown to be an illusion; low‐power microscopy of young adult human bones from interments revealed, on the surfaces of a variety of synovial joints, a system of basically hemispherical elevations, often united as short chains or groups. This system was also found on joints of a variety of species of six mammalian orders. Under the higher magnification of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), many elevations had a pit at their summits. The bare‐bone surfaces of synovial joints have a thin covering of mineralized cartilage, including its mineralizing‐front, which survives taphonomic processes, as well as the preparative procedures used in the study of articular surfaces. In its formative phase, the front has the chondrocyte–columnar structure of cartilage. It is postulated here that the newly‐discovered elevations arise when cartilage formation is ceasing, or becoming dormant, and that each column‐unit produces a globular mineralized mass, often with a pit which had accommodated a chondrocyte. These masses may incorporate the fibre systems of the unmineralized cartilage and aid in its attachment to the bony surface. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.