Sonia R. Zakrzewski

Osteological, biomolecular and geochemical examination of an early anglo-saxon case of lepromatous leprosy.

We have examined a 5th to 6th century inhumation from Great Chesterford, Essex, UK. The incomplete remains are those of a young male, aged around 21–35 years at death. The remains show osteological evidence of lepromatous leprosy (LL) and this was confirmed by lipid biomarker analysis and ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis, which provided evidence for both multi-copy and single copy loci from the Mycobacterium leprae genome. Genotyping showed the strain belonged to the 3I lineage, but the Great Chesterford isolate appeared to be ancestral to 3I strains found in later medieval cases in southern Britain and also continental Europe. While a number of contemporaneous cases exist, at present, this case of leprosy is the earliest radiocarbon dated case in Britain confirmed by both aDNA and lipid biomarkers. Importantly, Strontium and Oxygen isotope analysis suggest that the individual is likely to have originated from outside Britain. This potentially sheds light on the origins of the strain in Britain and its subsequent spread to other parts of the world, including the Americas where the 3I lineage of M. leprae is still found in some southern states of America.

Ancient genomes reveal a high diversity of Mycobacterium leprae in medieval Europe

Studying ancient DNA allows us to retrace the evolutionary history of human pathogens, such as Mycobacterium leprae, the main causative agent of leprosy. Leprosy is one of the oldest recorded and most stigmatizing diseases in human history. The disease was prevalent in Europe until the 16th century and is still endemic in many countries with over 200,000 new cases reported annually. Previous worldwide studies on modern and European medieval M. leprae genomes revealed that they cluster into several distinct branches of which two were present in medieval Northwestern Europe. In this study, we analyzed 10 new medieval M. leprae genomes including the so far oldest M. leprae genome from one of the earliest known cases of leprosy in the United Kingdom—a skeleton from the Great Chesterford cemetery with a calibrated age of 415–545 C.E. This dataset provides a genetic time transect of M. leprae diversity in Europe over the past 1500 years. We find M. leprae strains from four distinct branches to be present in the Early Medieval Period, and strains from three different branches were detected within a single cemetery from the High Medieval Period. Altogether these findings suggest a higher genetic diversity of M. leprae strains in medieval Europe at various time points than previously assumed. The resulting more complex picture of the past phylogeography of leprosy in Europe impacts current phylogeographical models of M. leprae dissemination. It suggests alternative models for the past spread of leprosy such as a wide spread prevalence of strains from different branches in Eurasia already in Antiquity or maybe even an origin in Western Eurasia. Furthermore, these results highlight how studying ancient M. leprae strains improves understanding the history of leprosy worldwide.

The Ptolemaic-Roman Cemetery at the Quesna Archaeological Area

The 2007 season of the Minufiyeh Archaeological Survey commenced with a topographic survey at Quesna, and continued with the opening of two test trenches to evaluate the results of a magnetometry survey undertaken in 2006. These renewed investigations in 2007 were situated to the west of the mausoleum, and revealed burials of the Ptolemaic and Roman periods; these included simple pit burials, mud-brick burials, and ceramic coffins. The second trench was aimed at better understanding a rectangular structure adjoining the falcon necropolis in the west, and was successful in locating a multi-room mud-brick building with internal and external walls defined. The initial interpretation of this structure is that it served as an entrance building, originally with vaulted ceilings, which led beneath the ancient ground level and, it might be assumed, into the corridors of the falcon necropolis.

Dataset for Paper 'The potential of statistical shape modelling for geometric morphometric analysis of human teeth in archaeological research'

Dataset corresponding to evidence presented in journal paper: Woods, C. et al (2017). The potential of statistical shape modelling for geometric morphometric analysis of human teeth in archaeological research. PLoS ONE, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0186754Dataset also relates to: Woods, C., Dickinson, A., & Zakrzewski, S. (2016). A study of three human dental populations using statistical shape modelling. 22nd Congress of the European Society of Biomechanics (ESB 2016), France.

Anglo-Saxon concepts of dis/ability: placing disease at Great Chesterford in its wider context

Within Anglo-Saxon society , individuals obtained their status on the basis of their ability to undertake required and prescribed social roles . People experiencing impairment, be that as a result of disease or some other process including trauma or pregnancy, might thus have reduced ability to undertake socially required activities. These people would have been highly visible within contemporary society by their very inability to undertake all required roles. These ideas are explored using a cluster of inhumations from the early Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Great Chesterford. Cemetery topography, visibility of difference, liminality , and etiology are explored in order to suggest the importance of the development of a sample-based approach to osteobiography. These might then be used to establish local understandings of disability, whereby individuals are viewed as people with focus placed on ability.

The potential of statistical shape modelling for geometric morphometric analysis of human teeth in archaeological research

This paper introduces statistical shape modelling (SSM) for use in osteoarchaeology research. SSM is a full field, multi-material analytical technique, and is presented as a supplementary geometric morphometric (GM) tool. Lower mandibular canines from two archaeological populations and one modern population were sampled, digitised using micro-CT, aligned, registered to a baseline and statistically modelled using principal component analysis (PCA). Sample material properties were incorporated as a binary enamel/dentin parameter. Results were assessed qualitatively and quantitatively using anatomical landmarks. Finally, the technique’s application was demonstrated for inter-sample comparison through analysis of the principal component (PC) weights. It was found that SSM could provide high detail qualitative and quantitative insight with respect to archaeological inter- and intra-sample variability. This technique has value for archaeological, biomechanical and forensic applications including identification, finite element analysis (FEA) and reconstruction from partial datasets.

The Scientific Study of Mummies. By Arthur C. Aufderheide. Pp. 608. (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002.) £100, ISBN 0-521-81826-5, hardback.

This volume is an authoritative reference work that brings together in one tome many of the results of scientific investigations of mummies, bog bodies and frozen remains from around the world. Topics covered in this veritable encyclopaedia include the history of mummy studies, the purpose and methods of mummification, museology and mummy research methods. Chapters are also devoted to the mummification of animals and the palaeopathology of mummies. It is worth noting that, although Aufderheide defines mummification simply as the transformation of a living body or tissue into a state of arrested decay, he includes the Pompeii ‘ash mummies’ in the volume. Aufderheide proposes four potential purposes for anthropogenic mummification. The first is to enhance royal authority in a theocracy, as exemplified by the Inca Empire and the early Dynastic period in Egypt. The second is to advance personal or population status and/or security, such as was undertaken in Egypt from the middle of Old Kingdom onwards. The other potential reasons for mummifying material that Aufderheide proposes are as war trophies, such as undertaken by the Jivaros of Ecuador, and to regulate the spiritual force of the deceased. For this latter case, not only can examples such as the Aleuts be included, but also those involving temporary mummification followed by secondary burial, as practised by the Sioux. The chapter detailing the mechanisms of mummification groups mummies according to their method of formation. Aufderheide divides mummies into clusters based upon the cause, be it anthropogenic or spontaneous (natural). Mummification can occur as a result of desiccation (by far the most common form), as a result of thermal effects, such as cooling, through the action of chemicals, through the actions of heavy metals such as copper, by anaerobiasis and by excarnation. Mummification by desiccation using honey is described in detail. Aufderheide adds two further categories: miscellaneous (including mechanisms such as taxidermy and the use of salt as a preserving agent) and indeterminate (including the spontaneously mummified medieval and Renaissance catacomb mummies). The largest portion of the volume comprises an extensive and detailed geographical review of the worldwide location of mummified remains, including both familiar mummies such as Vladimir Lenin and Oetzi (the Tyrolean Iceman), and lesser known specimens. In this fascinating chapter, the author attempts to catalogue all types of mummy, both anthropogenic and spontaneous in nature, ever found around the world. This section will act as a guide to all future mummy studies as it will continue as a reference guide to comparative material for some time to come. The next few chapters are more scientific in nature, and require a basic knowledge of chemistry for comprehension. In these chapters, the author’s training as a