Adipocere withstands 1600 years of fluctuating groundwater levels in soil |
| |
Authors: | S. Fiedler F. Buegger B. Klaubert K. Zipp R. Dohrmann M. Witteyer M. Zarei M. Graw |
| |
Affiliation: | 1. Institute of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, University of Hohenheim, Emil-Wolff-Strasse 27, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany;2. Helmholtz Center Munich, German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Institute of Soil Ecology, Ingolstädter Landstrasse 1, 85758 Neuherberg, Germany;3. Bundeswehr Medical Office, Dachauerstrasse 128, 80637 Munich, Germany;4. Rhineland-Palatinate State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments, Department of Archaeology, Schillerstrasse 44, 55116 Mainz, Germany;5. Lower Saxony State Office for Soil Science, Stilleweg 2, 30655 Hanover, Germany;6. Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Munich, Nußbaumstrasse 26, 80336 Munich, Germany |
| |
Abstract: | An extraordinarily well-preserved skeleton of a child, interred in a stone sarcophagus in the Late-Roman era, was discovered in the city of Mainz (Germany) in 1998, covered with a puff pastry-like substance assumed to be adipocere. It is the first time that this substance, which is derived from fat under oxygen-deficient conditions and prevents corpses from decaying, has been discovered on corpses buried under conditions described in the present paper. |
| |
Keywords: | Grave wax Wet preservation Burial Adipocere Degradation of fatty acids δ13C |
本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录! |
|