Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr, 190, CH-8057, Zurich, Switzerland.
Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Centre "Zagreb", Zagreb, Croatia.
Eur Radiol Exp. 2020 Jul 9;4(1):41. doi: 10.1186/s41747-020-00166-1.
In limestone caves, environmental processes often cause alterations of human or animal skeletal remains, complicating classical analytical methods. Exemplary, a proximal femoral skeletal fragment, enclosed by a thick layer of speleothemic calcite deposits, was discovered during the exploration of the Bedara cave in Žumberak, Croatia. An examination without removal of the surrounding mineral deposits, possibly leading to damage of the specimen, was, therefore, desirable.We describe and discuss the applied techniques, including clinical computed tomography, virtual cleaning by a specially developed segmentation protocol using an open-source DICOM viewer, and virtual visualisation and dimensioning using computer-aided design software, so that this "hidden" specimen could be non-invasively examined in great detail. We also report on the circumstances and origin of the find, the results of radiocarbon dating, and its anatomical and taxonomic identification, according to which, the bone fragment belonged to a wild boar (Sus scrofa) from the timeframe of the Middle Eneolithic Retz-Gajary culture in the region (4,781 ± 35 years before present). This study provides a reference for future paleontological and anthropological analyses, seeking to unlock the enormous potential of anatomical studies of comparable skeletal remains that are either petrified or enclosed in speleothemic deposits.
在石灰岩洞穴中，环境过程常常导致人类或动物骨骼遗骸发生变化，从而使经典的分析方法变得复杂。例如，在克罗地亚Žumberak 的 Bedara 洞穴的探索过程中，发现了一个被厚厚的溶洞碳酸钙沉积物包裹的股骨近端骨骼碎片。由于可能会对标本造成损害，因此，不取出周围矿物质沉积物而进行检查是可取的。我们描述并讨论了所应用的技术，包括临床计算机断层扫描、使用专门开发的分割协议通过开源 DICOM 查看器进行的虚拟清洁、以及使用计算机辅助设计软件进行的虚拟可视化和尺寸测量，以便可以对这个“隐藏”的标本进行详细的非侵入式检查。我们还报告了发现的情况和来源、放射性碳测年的结果以及其解剖学和分类学鉴定，根据这些结果，该骨骼碎片属于野猪（Sus scrofa），来自该地区中石器时代晚期的 Retz-Gajary 文化时期（距今 4781 ± 35 年）。这项研究为未来的古生物学和人类学分析提供了参考，旨在挖掘具有类似骨骼化石的巨大潜力，这些骨骼化石要么已经石化，要么被包裹在溶洞沉积物中。
