Albert Isidro

DNA sequences of Mycobacterium leprae recovered from ancient bones

The use of DNA techniques to detect pathogenic agents in ancient remains has exponentially increased recently. Reports include detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis , Treponema pallidum , Yersinia pestis , Bacillus anthracis , and Mycobacterium leprae [1], among others. However, many of these studies have been criticised and doubts have been cast on the authenticity of their results [2,3]. One of the main problems indicated is the use of positive controls to test the primers and conditions used for polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This practice could produce millions of potentially contaminant fragments of target DNA. …

Neonate Human Remains: A Window of Opportunity to the Molecular Study of Ancient Syphilis

Ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis can be a useful tool in bacterial disease diagnosis in human remains. However, while the recovery of Mycobacterium spp. has been widely successful, several authors report unsuccessful results regarding ancient treponemal DNA, casting doubts on the usefulness of this technique for the diagnosis of ancient syphilis. Here, we present results from an analysis of four newborn specimens recovered from the crypt of “La Ermita de la Soledad” (XVI–XVII centuries), located in the province of Huelva in the southwest of Spain. We extracted and analyzed aDNA in three independent laboratories, following specific procedures generally practiced in the aDNA field, including cloning of the amplified DNA fragments and sequencing of several clones. This is the most ancient case, reported to date, from which detection of DNA from T. pallidum subspecies pallidum has been successful in more than one individual, and we put forward a hypothesis to explain this result, taking into account the course of the disease in neonate individuals.

A Paleoneurohistological Study of 3,000-Year-Old Mummified Brain Tissue from the Mediterranean Bronze Age

Objectives: Mummified nervous tissue is very rarely found in ancient remains and usually corresponds to corpses which were frozen or preserved in bogs, conditions which limit tissue autolysis and bacterial degradation. Here, we show the unusual finding of spontaneously mummified brain tissue from several individuals from the little known megalithic talaiotic culture of the island of Minorca, dating approximately 3,000 years before present and corresponding to the late Mediterranean Bronze Age. Methods: These individuals were part of an intact burial site containing 66 subjects. Intracraneal samples were carefully rehydrated with Sandison’s solution. We used classical histochemical as well as 2D and 3D (scanning) electron-microscopic techniques. Results: We provide evidence of the nervous nature of the samples as well as a detailed description of the morphological features of these ancient tissues. The intracranial material consisted of well-preserved eosinophilic reticular tissue and, although mostly absent, some exceptional pigment-containing neurons were identified. Conclusions: We present a detailed morphological analysis which can provide valuable information and guidelines for the interpretation of this scarce type of mummified samples and provide explanations for this surprising preservation.

An ovarian teratoma of late Roman age

We report here a very unusual pelvic calcification recovered from the remains of a 30-40-year-old woman found at the late Roman period archeological site of La Fogonussa (Lleida, Catalonia). Although differential diagnoses for calcifications of the pelvis are complicated in archeological contexts, the precise localization, macroscopic features, and the presence of teeth along with part of a small bone led us to identify this case as an ovarian teratoma, based upon gross observations and computerized tomography (CT).

Brain vessels mummification in an individual of ancient Egypt

The organs of the Central Nervous System are among the firstorgans to undergo postmortem autolysis. Their preservationis an unusual finding in ancient burials except those in whichthe adipocere formation or conditions of extreme-drynessleads to a different rate of preservation (Aufderheide, 2003).Perhaps the best-known feature of Egyptian mummifica-tion is the removal of the brain. Herodotus specifically men-tions excerebration as part of the most elaborate ofmummification rituals, restricted to the elite. In anthropo-genic or artificial mummies the brain had been removed bydifferent techniques using wire-like instruments and latersuperseded the calvarium by preservative substances,meningeal covering has been seldom found. This is due to thefact that few remains of brain tissue survive the first step oftheprocedure;thetrans-ethmoidalextractionofthebrainandthe subsequent introduction of resin-like substancescompleted the damage of neural tissue.Since 2006 a Spanish/German mission of the EgyptianMuseum in Barcelona and the Eberhard Karls University inTu¨bingen has been working in the Necropolis of Sharuna,Middle Egypt. This vast necropolis covers the period from thebeginnings of the 6th dynasty of the Old Kingdom (circa 2325BC) to the beginnings of the Coptic period (4the9th centuriesAD), and a total of 438 individuals have been identified andtheir pathologies studied. In the 2010 archaeological season atotal of 51 mummified bodies were recovered from theUE.4013. Mummies were dated in the Late Period to PtolemaicPeriod (550e150 BC) based on the characteristics of themummification.

Optimizing specimen processing for ancient soft tissue specimens

Abstract Despite many reports concerning processing of ancient soft tissues, scant attention has been paid to optimizing procedures for processing soft tissues that have been altered by taphonomic processes. To determine the best procedures, we investigated the rehydration solution, time of exposure to the solutions, fixative solution and exposure to heat. Processes were evaluated based on the minimum section thickness, degree of tissue fragmentation, definition of tissue architecture and penetration of stains. We found that in desiccated samples, tissue architecture was optimized by using Ruffers solution for rehydration and Schaffers solution as fixative, because these tissues require water restoration within the tissues due to their compacted character. Heating enhanced penetration of dyes in these specimens, which improved diagnosis. Saponified tissues that had suffered extensive decomposition were more labile and required slow water uptake. The best histological sections were obtained using Sandisons solution followed by fixation with formaldehyde and avoiding heat. To obtain the best results with paleohistological specimens, the procedure must be determined by the condition of the sample and by accounting for the nature of its damage.

A case of semi-combusted pregnant female in the Phoenician-Punic necropolis of Monte Sirai (Carbonia, Sardinia, Italy).

We present a case of a pregnant woman with the fetus skeletal remains in situ, belonging to the Phoenician-Punic necropolis of Monte Sirai (Sardinia, Italy). The burial dates back to the late 6th to early 5th century BCE. Of the unborn fetal cases documented in the literature this is amongst the oldest four and it represents the first documented case of a pregnant woman in the Phoenician and Punic necropolis literature. A physico-chemical investigation of bones combining X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy suggests that the female skeleton and fetus were subjected to an incomplete heat treatment according to a funerary practice, perhaps limited to the period of early 5th century BCE, that appears to be peculiar to this site.

Case Report: Floating-clavicle from the 17th Century: The Oldest Case?

BackgroundDislocation of both ends of the clavicle is a rare traumatic lesion and the mechanism of the lesion is usually related to major trauma. The first case was described in 1831.Case DescriptionWe present the oldest referenced case of this alteration. The skeleton studied belonged to an old woman buried inside the Sant Pere de Madrona Church in Berga (Barcelona/Spain) and its dating indicated it corresponded to the end of the 17th century. There was a pseudarthrosis between the clavicle and coracoid ligament; when the bones were reconstructed by pseudarthrosis both ends of the clavicle appeared dislocated.Literature ReviewBipolar dislocation of both ends of the clavicle, or “floating-clavicle”, is a rare injury. Since 1831 when this type of injury was first reported, approximately 40 cases have been published. No archaeological case has been published.Clinical RelevanceDespite experiencing bipolar dislocation of both ends of the clavicle, or floating-clavicle, it is possible to have acceptable function of the arm as suggested by the anthropologic parameters analyzed here. The head of the humerus of the affected shoulder shows no abnormalities and the contralateral glenoid cavity shows severe osteochondritis of the anteroinferior side.

Hendidura vertebral sagital completa (vértebra en mariposa)

Ignasi Galtés , Albert Isidro , Assumpció Malgosa b y Xavier Jordana b,d, a Institut de Medicina Legal de Catalunya, Barcelona, España b Unitat d’Antropologia Biològica, Departament de Biologia Animal, Biologia Vegetal i Ecologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, España c Servei Cirurgia Ortopèdica i Traumatologia, Hospital Sagrat Cor de Barcelona, Barcelona, España d Center of Research in Natural Resources (CIRN), Departmento de Biologia, Universidade dos Ac-ores, Ponta Delgada, Ac-ores, Portugal

A Reply to Wade

We are grateful to Wade for providing an interesting controversy about the preserved brain remains (Isidro, Gonz alvez, & Arboix, 2015). He states that “the presence of meninges and intact mummified brains in natural or anthropogenic mummies is far from few or seldom described” (Wade, 2015). This statement needs qualifying. It is true that mummified brain remains are far from rare (Wade, Garvin, & Nelson, 2011). However, the presence of meninges in the brain (Isidro & Malgosa, 2014), has only been reported in three studies. Some studies mention meningeal structures without providing direct images, as the 2100 year-old-female mummy of Lady Mawangtui, 206 BC to 220 AD (Wei, 1973); others provide images of the dura mater as cases 8 and 12 from Azapa (Chile) (Gerszten & Martinez, 1995 e Figure 4). In contrast, in a study of 56 well-preserved brains from Medieval individuals from Denmark “remnants of dura were never found on the brains or inside the skulls” (Tkocz, Bytzer, & Bierring, 1979, p. 200); similarly, inWindower Archaeological site in Florida, “no meningeal covering or blood vessels remained” (Doran et al., 1986, p. 805). Finally, Wade leads us to ask the question: what are the patterns that made W19 brain different? It is widely accepted that after brain removal using wire-like instruments, most of the brain is destroyed, after the priest or embalmer filled the calvarium with black-glue substances that superseded it (Dunand& Lichtenberg, 2006). Nonetheless, in some occasions the outer part of the brain may resist and thus it is easily identifiable by X-ray or CT-scan as a doubledensity mass (Isidro, Malgosa, Esteban, & Fern andez, 2006; Raven & Taconis, 2005; Wade et al., 2011). We posit that the presence of brain vessels prints is unique when compared to the 62 more or less preserved brains of the same field (UE). The prints are not only a “mark” in a homogeneous dark-mass of resin. The outer surface (corresponding to meninges) is completely different to the rest of the mass, in colour, texture and easy to release. I would like to point out that in the same UE the rest of the mummies had been wrapped in the same fashion and had beenmummified by the same procedures. Thus we can speculate that something different must have happened in the case of this individual through the embalming process. Over a hundred years ago Prof. Sir Grafton Elliot-Smith, in response to the anatomist D.S. Lamb, who affirmed: “Of the thousands of Egyptian mummies examined... there is, so far as I know, but a single record (...) of the undoubted finding of brain” (Lamb, 1901) maintained that he was: “... aware of the fact that the brain is preserved in the crania of a very large portion of these bodies (of every period) which have NOT been “mummified” by artificial conservative processes” (ElliotSmith, 1902, p.375). Brain remains in mummies are still causes of controversy today.