{"title":"化学元素组成与人类的出土研究:对葡萄牙六个公共墓地的骸骨和保存下来的个体进行比较分析。","authors":"Angela Silva-Bessa , Rui Azevedo , Agostinho Almeida , Lorna Dawson , Shari L. Forbes , Maria Teresa Ferreira , Ricardo Jorge Dinis-Oliveira","doi":"10.1016/j.jtemb.2024.127551","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>In Portugal, it is common practice to reuse burial graves in cemeteries with exhumations occurring after a minimum period of three years after entombment. However, if the human remains still retain soft tissues when the grave is opened, inhumations must continue for successive periods of two years until complete skeletonization is achieved. For the past decade, several Portuguese public cemeteries have been struggling with the lack of burial space mainly due to a slow cadaveric decomposition. As such, this work aims to understand if the chemical elemental concentrations found in the depositional environment of deceased individuals is influencing human taphonomy.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>A total of 112 soil samples were collected from graves of five Portuguese public cemeteries and the concentration of 28 chemical elements was measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). A total of 56 head hair samples and 19 fingernail samples were also collected from cadaveric remains and analysed for the same purpose.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Overall, all matrices showed statistically significant differences (<em>p</em> < 0.05) between skeletonised and preserved individuals. Although it was considered that the preserved bodies would display higher elemental concentrations than the skeletonised ones, this hypothesis was not confirmed.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>The authors believe that changes in the burial conditions over time may have enable the disintegration of soft tissues even if they were initially preserved due to the presence of chemical elements. Similar studies on a global scale should be considered as they could bring together distinct perspectives and lead to more comprehensive and innovative solutions for cemetery management.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49970,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology","volume":"86 ","pages":"Article 127551"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Chemical elemental composition and human taphonomy: A comparative analysis between skeletonised and preserved individuals from six Portuguese public cemeteries\",\"authors\":\"Angela Silva-Bessa , Rui Azevedo , Agostinho Almeida , Lorna Dawson , Shari L. Forbes , Maria Teresa Ferreira , Ricardo Jorge Dinis-Oliveira\",\"doi\":\"10.1016/j.jtemb.2024.127551\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>In Portugal, it is common practice to reuse burial graves in cemeteries with exhumations occurring after a minimum period of three years after entombment. However, if the human remains still retain soft tissues when the grave is opened, inhumations must continue for successive periods of two years until complete skeletonization is achieved. For the past decade, several Portuguese public cemeteries have been struggling with the lack of burial space mainly due to a slow cadaveric decomposition. As such, this work aims to understand if the chemical elemental concentrations found in the depositional environment of deceased individuals is influencing human taphonomy.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>A total of 112 soil samples were collected from graves of five Portuguese public cemeteries and the concentration of 28 chemical elements was measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). A total of 56 head hair samples and 19 fingernail samples were also collected from cadaveric remains and analysed for the same purpose.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Overall, all matrices showed statistically significant differences (<em>p</em> < 0.05) between skeletonised and preserved individuals. Although it was considered that the preserved bodies would display higher elemental concentrations than the skeletonised ones, this hypothesis was not confirmed.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>The authors believe that changes in the burial conditions over time may have enable the disintegration of soft tissues even if they were initially preserved due to the presence of chemical elements. Similar studies on a global scale should be considered as they could bring together distinct perspectives and lead to more comprehensive and innovative solutions for cemetery management.</div></div>\",\"PeriodicalId\":49970,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology\",\"volume\":\"86 \",\"pages\":\"Article 127551\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":3.6000,\"publicationDate\":\"2024-10-18\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"3\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0946672X24001718\",\"RegionNum\":3,\"RegionCategory\":\"医学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q2\",\"JCRName\":\"BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0946672X24001718","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
Chemical elemental composition and human taphonomy: A comparative analysis between skeletonised and preserved individuals from six Portuguese public cemeteries
Introduction
In Portugal, it is common practice to reuse burial graves in cemeteries with exhumations occurring after a minimum period of three years after entombment. However, if the human remains still retain soft tissues when the grave is opened, inhumations must continue for successive periods of two years until complete skeletonization is achieved. For the past decade, several Portuguese public cemeteries have been struggling with the lack of burial space mainly due to a slow cadaveric decomposition. As such, this work aims to understand if the chemical elemental concentrations found in the depositional environment of deceased individuals is influencing human taphonomy.
Methods
A total of 112 soil samples were collected from graves of five Portuguese public cemeteries and the concentration of 28 chemical elements was measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). A total of 56 head hair samples and 19 fingernail samples were also collected from cadaveric remains and analysed for the same purpose.
Results
Overall, all matrices showed statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) between skeletonised and preserved individuals. Although it was considered that the preserved bodies would display higher elemental concentrations than the skeletonised ones, this hypothesis was not confirmed.
Conclusions
The authors believe that changes in the burial conditions over time may have enable the disintegration of soft tissues even if they were initially preserved due to the presence of chemical elements. Similar studies on a global scale should be considered as they could bring together distinct perspectives and lead to more comprehensive and innovative solutions for cemetery management.
期刊介绍:
The journal provides the reader with a thorough description of theoretical and applied aspects of trace elements in medicine and biology and is devoted to the advancement of scientific knowledge about trace elements and trace element species. Trace elements play essential roles in the maintenance of physiological processes. During the last decades there has been a great deal of scientific investigation about the function and binding of trace elements. The Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology focuses on the description and dissemination of scientific results concerning the role of trace elements with respect to their mode of action in health and disease and nutritional importance. Progress in the knowledge of the biological role of trace elements depends, however, on advances in trace elements chemistry. Thus the Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology will include only those papers that base their results on proven analytical methods.
Also, we only publish those articles in which the quality assurance regarding the execution of experiments and achievement of results is guaranteed.