Núria Armentano

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.

The presence of nuclear families in prehistoric collective burials revisited: The bronze age burial of montanissell cave (Spain) in the light of aDNA

Ancient populations have commonly been thought to have lived in small groups where extreme endogamy was the norm. To contribute to this debate, a genetic analysis has been carried out on a collective burial with eight primary inhumations from Montanissell Cave in the Catalan pre-Pyrenees. Radiocarbon dating clearly placed the burial in the Bronze Age, around 3200 BP. The composition of the group-two adults (one male, one female), one young woman, and five children from both sexes-seemed to represent the structure of a typical nuclear family. The genetic evidence proves this assumption to be wrong. In fact, at least five out of the eight mitochondrial haplotypes were different, denying the possibility of a common maternal ancestor for all of them. Nevertheless, 50% of the inhumations shared haplogroup J, so the possibility of a maternal relationship cannot be ruled out. Actually, combining different analyses performed using ancient and living populations, the probability of having four related J individuals in Montanissell Cave would range from 0.9884 to 0.9999. Owing to the particularities of this singular collective burial (small number of bodies placed altogether in a hidden cave, the evidence of non-simultaneous interments, close dating and unusual grave goods), we suggest that it might represent a small group with a patrilocal mating system.

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).

La antropología forense al servicio de la justicia y la historia: las fosas de la Guerra Civil

La antropologia forense tiene por objeto tanto la identificacion del individuo, como la determinacion de la causa y circunstancias de la muerte. En este sentido, la antropologia forense es esencial para la recuperacion de los restos de personas desaparecidas y que fueron enterrados en fosas comunes durante la Guerra Civil y la dictadura franquista, para su posterior retorno a los familiares. En este trabajo se presentan los resultados de la intervencion llevada a cabo en la fosa de Gurb, en la que fueron enterrados cuatro soldados republicanos vecinos de Gava y cuyos familiares habian solicitado su exhumacion. El trabajo multidisciplinar llevado a cabo permitio: 1) recuperar toda la informacion ante mortem disponible en relacion a la fosa y los desaparecidos, 2) recuperar mediante metodologia arqueologica y directrices antropologico-forenses los restos de los 13 individuos enterrados en la fosa, y 3) analizar los restos en el laboratorio a traves de tecnicas antropologicas, forenses, moleculares y de superposicion craneofacial. Los resultados permitieron tanto la identificacion de las cuatro personas buscadas, como la determinacion de las causas y circunstancias de su muerte, relacionadas todas ellas con heridas por arma de fuego, acaecidas en un contexto de batalla.

A case of frontal sinusitis from the Bronze Age site of Can Filuà (Barcelona)

In this study, we present a case of frontal sinusitus with exocranial fistulization in a specimen from the Chalcolithic–Bronze Age period. This is a rare complication of sinusitis, exceptional in paleopathological literature. Copyright

Unilateral cholesteatoma in the first millennium BC.

Objective To analyze the bone lesions of the ear region from a late Bronze Age individual to establish the most probable diagnosis. Background There has been evidence of diseases of the ear region since way back in history, but few human remains have been recognized. The case presented here corresponds to an ear lesion from a prehistoric skeleton found in the archeological site of La Cova des Pas (900–800 cal yr BC), located on Minorca island, in the western Mediterranean. Methods Macroscopic and radiologic (iCT) analysis had been performed. Results The remains belong to an elderly female subject who had a large cavity on the tympanic cavity as a result of the complete erosion of the outer wall of the attic and a large increase in the diameter of the outer ear canal. The cavity extends posterior to the mastoid. Conclusion The diagnosis suggests a probable cholesteatoma, being one of the oldest cases in Europe.

Tumors in recent Prehistory. Contributions from Cova des Pas (Menorca Island)

During 2005 and 2006, the archaeological digging of the Cova des Pas (Ferreries, Menorca) was carried out by an interdisciplinary team coming from the Universitat de Barcelona, the Universitat de les Illes Balears, and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona [1]. The site was a burial cave used over the last stages of the prehistory of the island, with a minimum of 66 individuals, of all ages, who were buried in fetal position in the small space. One of