Environmental Futures Research Centre, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia.
PACEA, De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel: Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie, UMR 5199, CNRS-Université de Bordeaux, Pessac, France.
PLoS One. 2024 Sep 26;19(9):e0308440. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0308440. eCollection 2024.
The use of diagenetic alterations in bone microstructure ('histotaphonomy') as indicators of funerary treatment in the past and for post-mortem interval calculations in forensic cases has received increasing attention in the last decade. Studies have used histological changes to conclude in-situ decomposition, mummification, infanticide and post-mortem interval. There has been very little attempt to experimentally validate the links between decomposition, depositional conditions, time-since-death and microscopic changes in human bone so that meaningful interpretations of archaeological and forensic observations can be made. Here, we address this problem experimentally using the largest sample of human remains from anatomical donors and the longest-term deposition framework to date. This study tests one key assumption of histotaphonomy; that putrefaction during the early stages of decay is reflected in bone microanatomy and composition. Seventeen human donors and six pigs were deposited on the surface in a known Australian environment and left to decompose between 463 and 1238 days. All remains underwent all stages of decomposition reaching skeletonisation. Rib and femur samples were analysed using conventional histological methods and scanning electron microscopy, by applying the Oxford Histological Index, and examining collagen birefringence, microcracking and re- and de mineralisation. Biomolecular changes of the femoral samples were analysed using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The results indicate that bioerosion in human bone does not occur due to putrefaction. There were no correlations between bone histology and the following variables: human vs pigs, season, primary vs secondary deposition, position, fresh vs frozen and time-since-deposition. Furthermore, no trends were observed between biomolecular changes and time-since-deposition. The study also shows that pigs cannot be used as substitutes for human remains for bone biodegradation research. This is the first, controlled, larger scale study of human remains providing a lack of support for a long-assumed relationship between putrefaction and bone histology bioerosion. Using bone degradation as an argument to prove putrefaction, in-situ decomposition and early taphonomic processes cannot be supported based on the experimental human data presented.
在过去，骨骼微结构的成岩变化（组织学埋葬学）被用作丧葬处理的指示物，并用于法医案件中的死后时间间隔计算，在过去十年中受到越来越多的关注。研究使用组织学变化来推断原位分解、木乃伊化、杀婴和死后时间间隔。几乎没有尝试从实验上验证分解、沉积条件、死后时间与人类骨骼微观变化之间的联系，以便对考古和法医观察进行有意义的解释。在这里，我们使用来自解剖学供体的最大样本和迄今为止最长的沉积框架来实验解决这个问题。这项研究通过在已知的澳大利亚环境中对 17 名人类供体和 6 头猪进行表面沉积，并在 463 至 1238 天之间进行分解，从而检验了组织学埋葬学的一个关键假设；即腐烂在分解的早期阶段反映在骨骼微观解剖结构和组成中。所有遗骸都经历了分解的所有阶段，直到骨骼化。使用常规组织学方法和扫描电子显微镜，通过应用牛津组织学指数，检查胶原蛋白双折射、微裂纹和再矿化与去矿化，对肋骨和股骨样本进行了分析。使用傅立叶变换红外（FTIR）光谱分析股骨样本的生物分子变化。结果表明，人体骨骼中的生物侵蚀不是由于腐烂引起的。骨骼组织学与以下变量之间没有相关性：人类与猪、季节、初次与二次沉积、位置、新鲜与冷冻以及死后时间。此外，在生物分子变化与死后时间之间也没有观察到趋势。该研究还表明，猪不能被用作骨骼生物降解研究的人类遗骸替代品。这是第一项对人类遗骸进行的受控、大规模研究，缺乏对腐烂与骨骼组织学生物侵蚀之间长期假定关系的支持。根据所提出的实验性人类数据，不能使用骨骼降解作为证明腐烂、原位分解和早期埋藏学过程的论据。
