Humanlike manual activities in Australopithecus.

The evolution of the human hand is a topic of great interest in paleoanthropology. As the hand can be involved in a vast array of activities, knowledge regarding how it was used by early hominins can yield crucial information on the factors driving biocultural evolution. Previous research on early hominin hands focused on the overall bone shape.

A nontuberculous mycobacterium could solve the mystery of the lady from the Franciscan church in Basel, Switzerland.

Background: In 1975, the mummified body of a female has been found in the Franciscan church in Basel, Switzerland. Molecular and genealogic analyses unveiled her identity as Anna Catharina Bischoff (ACB), a member of the upper class of post-reformed Basel, who died at the age of 68 years, in 1787. The reason behind her death is still a mystery, especially that toxicological analyses revealed high levels of mercury, a common treatment against infections at that time, in different body organs.

The concordance of signals based on irregular incremental lines in the human tooth cementum with documented pregnancies: Results from a systematic approach.

Background And Objective: There is evidence from previous studies that pregnancies and diseases are recorded in the tooth cementum. This study aims to assess the degree of concordance between signals based on irregular incremental lines (ILs) and reported pregnancies.

Material And Methods: 23 recent and 24 archaeological human teeth with known birth history were included in this investigation.

Comparative hard x-ray tomography for virtual histology of zebrafish larva, human tooth cementum, and porcine nerve.

Synchrotron radiation-based tomography yields microanatomical features in human and animal tissues without physical slicing. Recent advances in instrumentation have made laboratory-based phase tomography feasible. We compared the performance of three cutting-edge laboratory systems benchmarked by synchrotron radiation-based tomography for three specimens.

The Lady from Basel's Barfüsserkirche - Molecular confirmation of the Mummy's identity through mitochondrial DNA of living relatives spanning 22 generations.

The identity of the mummified Lady from the Barfüsser Church in Basel, Switzerland has been unsolved for decades, despite the prominent location of the burial place in front of the choir screen. A recent multidisciplinary research approach came up with a possible candidate, Anna Catharina Bischoff who died in Basel in 1787 with an age of 69 years (1719-1787). To verify the identity of the mummy, genealogists of the Citizen Science Basel discovered three living individuals of the maternal lineage of two different family branches, separated from Anna Catharina Bischoff by up to 22 generations.

DNA methylation profiling in mummified human remains from the eighteenth-century.

Reconstruction of ancient epigenomes by DNA methylation (DNAm) can shed light into the composition of cell types, disease states, and age at death. However, such analysis is hampered by impaired DNA quality and little is known how decomposition affects DNAm. In this study, we determined if EPIC Illumina BeadChip technology is applicable for specimens from mummies of the eighteenth century CE.

Biomechanics of the human thumb and the evolution of dexterity.

Systematic tool production and use is one of humanity's defining characteristics, possibly originating as early as >3 million years ago. Although heightened manual dexterity is considered to be intrinsically intertwined with tool use and manufacture, and critical for human evolution, its role in the emergence of early culture remains unclear. Most previous research on this question exclusively relied on direct morphological comparisons between early hominin and modern human skeletal elements, assuming that the degree of a species' dexterity depends on its similarity with the modern human form.

Biocultural evidence of precise manual activities in an Early Holocene individual of the high-altitude Peruvian Andes.

Objectives: Cuncaicha, a rockshelter site in the southern Peruvian Andes, has yielded archaeological evidence for human occupation at high elevation (4,480 masl) during the Terminal Pleistocene (12,500-11,200 cal BP), Early Holocene (9,500-9,000 cal BP), and later periods. One of the excavated human burials (Feature 15-06), corresponding to a middle-aged female dated to ~8,500 cal BP, exhibits skeletal osteoarthritic lesions previously proposed to reflect habitual loading and specialized crafting labor. Three small tools found in association with this burial are hypothesized to be associated with precise manual dexterity.

Measuring incremental line width and appearance in the tooth cementum of recent and archaeological human teeth to identify irregularities: First insights using a standardized protocol.

Objective: Irregular incremental lines (ILs) in the tooth cementum were previously associated with pregnancy and certain diseases. This study aims to identify irregular ILs and assess their patterns and reproducibility.

Materials: 24 recent and 32 archaeological teeth from the nineteenth century with known birth history.

Collagen degradation as a possibility to determine the post-mortem interval (PMI) of human bones in a forensic context - A survey.

To find out the time since death (PMI) of a human individual, from which only skeletal remains are left is a difficult question to answer, since methods currently available don't bring concrete answers. Subsequent to our validation study on porcine bones, we focused on human bones analysing if collagen degradation would occur at a predictive rate so that the method may be used for PMI-estimation. We tried to reproduce a method for determining the Co/NCo (Collagen to Non-Collagen) ratio of porcine bones Boaks et al.

Evidence for precision grasping in Neandertal daily activities.

Neandertal manual activities, as previously reconstructed from their robust hand skeletons, are thought to involve systematic power grasping rather than precise hand movements. However, this interpretation is at odds with increasing archeological evidence for sophisticated cultural behavior. We reevaluate the manipulative behaviors of Neandertals and early modern humans using a historical reference sample with extensive genealogical and lifelong occupational documentation, in combination with a new and precise three-dimensional multivariate analysis of hand muscle attachments.

A repeatable geometric morphometric approach to the analysis of hand entheseal three-dimensional form.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to put forth a precise landmark-based technique for reconstructing the three-dimensional shape of human entheseal surfaces, to investigate whether the shape of human entheses is related to their size. The effects of age-at-death and bone length on entheseal shapes were also assessed.

Materials And Methods: The sample comprised high-definition three-dimensional models of three right hand entheseal surfaces, which correspond to 45 male adult individuals of known age.

Checklist and Scoring System for the Assessment of Soft Tissue Preservation in CT Examinations of Human Mummies: Application to the Tyrolean Iceman.

 Soft tissues make a skeleton into a mummy and they allow for a diagnosis beyond osteology. Following the approach of structured reporting in clinical radiology, a recently developed checklist was used to evaluate the soft tissue preservation status of the Tyrolean Iceman using computed tomography (CT). The purpose of this study was to apply the "Checklist and Scoring System for the Assessment of Soft Tissue Preservation in CT Examinations of Human Mummies" to the Tyrolean Iceman, and to compare the Iceman's soft tissue preservation score to the scores calculated for other mummies.

Occupational manual activity is reflected on the patterns among hand entheses.

Objectives: In anthropological sciences, entheses are widely utilized as occupational stress markers. However, the reaction of entheseal surfaces to mechanical loading is not well understood. Furthermore, previous studies on entheses relied on the individuals' occupation-at-death.

Evidence of neurofibromatosis type 1 in a multi-morbid Inca child mummy: A paleoradiological investigation using computed tomography.

Objective: In this study, an Inca bundle was examined using computed tomography (CT). The primary aim was to determine the preservation status of bony and soft tissues, the sex, the age at the time of death, possible indicators for disease or even the cause of death, as well as the kind of mummification. A secondary aim was to obtain a brief overview of the wrapping in order to gain additional information on the cultural background.

CT-Osteoabsorptiometry (CT-OAM) - a new investigation technique in the field of mummy research.

The scientific study of mummies provides an insight into the life of past populations. Using CT-Osteoabsorptiometry (CT-OAM), a noninvasive technique based on conventional CT-data sets, it is possible to visualize the mineral density distribution in the subchondral bone plate, representing the long-term loading conditions of the articulation surface. The objective of the current study was to investigate the applicability of CT-OAM on mummies for the load analysis of joints as a new investigation technique in the field of mummy research.

Basics in paleodemography: a comparison of age indicators applied to the early medieval skeletal sample of Lauchheim.

Recent advances in the methods of skeletal age estimation have rekindled interest in their applicability to paleodemography. The current study contributes to the discussion by applying several long established as well as recently developed or refined aging methods to a subsample of 121 adult skeletons from the early medieval cemetery of Lauchheim. The skeletal remains were analyzed by 13 independent observers using a variety of aging techniques (complex method and other multimethod approaches, Transition Analysis, cranial suture closure, auricular surface method, osteon density method, tooth root translucency measurement, and tooth cementum annulation counting).

Bone microstructure and its hidden information.

Human bone micromorphology gives clues to a variety of life history parameters, such as individual age, health status, and physical activity. In the course of an ongoing study, thin cross sections of femoral compact bone from three skeletal series are investigated for different purposes. The first series consists of 103 adult skeletons excavated from a 19th century hospital graveyard in Basel, Switzerland.

[Cribra orbitalia, dentin hypoplasia and life expectancy of 20-year-old persons as social and sex specific stress indicators in correlation with the health status of an early medieval population].

The aim of this study is based on the analysis of diachronically social and sexual specific considerations on the life situation of the early medieval population of Schleitheim, Kanton Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Cribra orbitalia and the linear enamel hypoplasia of the teeth are considered as stressors. This study is based on the life expectancy of the 20 years old, as the life expectancy gives information on the health condition of a social group or an entire population.

Skeletal manifestations of hypothyroidism from Switzerland.

Hypothyroidism is caused by a deficiency in the synthesis of thyroid hormone. Dwarfism is the most obvious skeletal manifestation, but most people with hypothyroidism do not have any skeletal evidence of the disease. When the skeleton is affected, the severity of this manifestation depends on the degree of the deficiency and age of onset.

Brief communication: the Galler Collection: a little-known historic Swiss bone pathology reference series.

The aim of this article is to briefly present the Galler Collection, a little-known historic Swiss bone reference series of high value for paleopathological research. The Galler Collection consists of approximately 600 mostly dry-bone specimens of many major bone diseases dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Clinical information and autopsy reports are available for the majority of specimens.