Diptera Brachycera found inside the esophagus of a mummified adult male from the early XIX century, Lisbon, Portugal

Fly puparia and adult fragments of diptera muscid were found inside the esophagus of a mummified body from the early XIX century, buried inside the crypt of the Sacrament Church (Lisbon, Portugal). The identification of the material revealed a monospecific colonization by Ophyra capensis (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Muscidae), a species known to invade corpses in the ammoniacal fermentation wave. This species can be found in corpses kept indoors, not available to the early waves of blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae). In the present case, the number of pupae and their developmental stage suggest that the female invaded the mummified corpse through the partially opened mouth and the oviposition took place directly inside the esophagus. This is the first case of O. capensis infesting internal organs of an intact corpse. The use of chemical products for the embalming process probably explains why external colonization did not occur.     

Public engagement offers insights on the Eurasian red squirrel distribution

After centuries of absence, the Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) is recolonizing and expanding throughout Portugal. We implemented an online community-based project, which enabled us to obtain unprecedented records on the Eurasian red squirrel distribution, not only allowing us to map its current extent area but also to reconstruct its southward range expansion during the past years in Portugal. Possible origins of dispersion are forested areas in the northwestern and eastern Spanish borders and sites of reintroductions in Lisbon, Porto, and Coimbra. This well-established public engagement platform sets a successful example of integrated efforts between society and academy in gathering data on species distribution.     

Checklist and Scoring System for the Assessment of Soft Tissue Preservation in CT Examinations of Human Mummies

The purpose of this study was to develop a checklist for standardized assessment of soft tissue preservation in human mummies based on whole-body computed tomography examinations, and to add a scoring system to facilitate quantitative comparison of mummies. Computed tomography examinations of 23 mummies from the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo, Sicily (17 adults, 6 children; 17 anthropogenically and 6 naturally mummified) and 7 mummies from the crypt of the Dominican Church of the Holy Spirit of Vilnius, Lithuania (5 adults, 2 children; all naturally mummified) were used to develop the checklist following previously published guidelines. The scoring system was developed by assigning equal scores for checkpoints with equivalent quality. The checklist was evaluated by intra- and inter-observer reliability. The finalized checklist was applied to compare the groups of anthropogenically and naturally mummified bodies. The finalized checklist contains 97 checkpoints and was divided into two main categories, “A. Soft Tissues of Head and Musculoskeletal System” and “B. Organs and Organ Systems”, each including various subcategories. The complete checklist had an intra-observer reliability of 98% and an inter-observer reliability of 93%. Statistical comparison revealed significantly higher values in anthropogenically compared to naturally mummified bodies for the total score and for three subcategories. In conclusion, the developed checklist allows for a standardized assessment and documentation of soft tissue preservation in whole-body computed tomography examinations of human mummies. The scoring system facilitates a quantitative comparison of the soft tissue preservation status between single mummies or mummy collections.     

Brief communication: the collection of identified human skeletons housed at the Bocage Museum (National Museum of Natural History), Lisbon, Portugal

A large collection of identified human skeletons curated at the Bocage Museum (National Museum of Natural History, Lisbon, Portugal) has remained in relative anonymity since its collecting protocol was initiated in the 1980s. This collection originates from modern cemetery sources and is comprised of 1,692 skeletons with basic documentary data (age at death, place of birth, occupation, place of residence, and date and cause of death). At present, this information is more readily available for 699 individuals. The remaining 993 are in the process of being fully documented. The skeletons consist largely of Portuguese nationals who lived in the 19th and 20th centuries (1805-1975) in Lisbon. Both sexes are equally represented, and ages at death range from birth to 98 years, including 92 subadults (<20 years old).     

From ancient to contemporary molecular eco-epidemiology of Chagas disease in the Americas

One of the best-studied populations with regard to Chagas disease is from the coastal area of northern Chile at the foot of the western Andean slopes. The extremely arid climate here generates rapid, spontaneous desiccation of buried bodies, arresting the decay process. The absence of rainfall then preserves these dried bodies (mummies) for millennia. The aim of the present study was to perform the first molecular paleoepidemiological study on a set of 43 mummified human remains from the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile in order to elucidate the transmission dynamics and determinants of ancient genotypes, to try to unravel the natural history of the Trypanosoma cruzi taxon and Chagas disease. Interestingly, TcBat, a recently described Discrete Taxonomic Unit, emerges as the plausible ancestor of T. cruzi. The findings herein presented allow us to present a plausible model of T. cruzi transmission in pre-Columbian civilisations.     

A case of congenital syphilis during the colonial period in Mexico City

Congenital syphilis has been diagnosed very seldom in ancient populations. The case that we examined comes from San Jeronimo's Church (17th and 18th centuries AD; Mexico City). Coffin 43 contained an incomplete skeleton of an approximately 2-year-old infant. The pathological lesions of this skeleton include bilateral osteochondritis, diaphyseal osteomyelitis, and osteitis and/or periostitis on the long bones. The radiographic appearance depicts symmetrical osteomyelitic foci, particularly at the proximal extremity of both tibiae (Wimberger's sign). The skull exhibits hydroceph-aly and periosteal changes on the vault, and the unerupted upper incisors evince dental hypoplasia and other pathological alterations reminiscent of Hutchinson's incisors. All these features strongly suggest a case of early Congenital syphilis. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Congenital syphilis in the past: slaves at Newton Plantation, Barbados, West Indies.

Hutchinson's incisors and Moon's molars are specific lesions of congenital syphilis. The extensive but fragmentary clinical literature on these conditions describes reduced dimensions and thin enamel in the permanent incisors and first molars, crowding and infolding of the first molar cusps, notching of the upper incisors, and apical hypoplasias of the permanent canines. A Barbados slave cemetery (ca. 1660-1820 AD) includes three individuals with these features, suggesting a frequency at birth of congenital syphilis in the population approaching 10%. These three cases show triple the frequency of all hypoplasias and more than seven times the frequency of pitting hypoplasia present in the remainder of the series. The recognizable congenital syphilis cases account for much of the remarkably high frequency of hypoplasias in the series as a whole. We infer that syphilis contributed substantially to morbidity, infant mortality, and infertility in this population. Presence or absence of congenital syphilis may account for much of the variability in health and mortality seen among nineteenth century African-American populations.     

Testing the quality of nonadult Bayesian dental age assessment methods to juvenile skeletal remains: the Lisbon collection children and secular trend effects

Age estimation of nonadult skeletons from archaeological or forensic contexts has relied heavily on modern schedules of dental formation developed on samples of children of affluent populations. Although genetic factors have been considered to have had the greatest influence on population differences in dental development, increased interest has been placed on the role of environmental influences, such as differences in socioeconomic status and secular trends. This study evaluates the quality (i.e., accuracy and reliability) of two Bayesian dental age estimation methods to a sample of identified child skeletons from the Lisbon collection (20th century Portugal). The two Bayesian methods are developed on a reference sample of modern children from France, Ivory Coast, Iran, and Morocco. The test sample from Lisbon, compared to the reference sample, is separated by over 50 years of secular trends and comprises a lower socioeconomic segment. The two Bayesian methods show that the Lisbon children are consistently 1-year behind in dental age compared to the modern children of the reference sample. Environmental factors largely explain the differences between dental and chronological age in historic samples of nonadults.     

First records of urban invasive Cryptotermes brevis (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae) in continental Spain and Portugal

Occurrence of the West Indian drywood termite, Cryptotermes brevis, is registered for the first time as established populations in Barcelona (Spain) and also additional information is given regarding a recent record from Lisbon (Portugal). This serious invasive termite pest was detected in five buildings in Barcelona, Spain and one building in Lisbon, Portugal.     

Parasitological analysis of Leonese royalty from Collegiate-Basilica of St. Isidoro, León (Spain): helminths, protozoa, and mites

The royal burial chamber of what is today the Collegiate-Basilica of St. Isidoro in León, Spain, built and remodeled between the 10th and 13th centuries and in the 20th century renamed the Kings' Pantheon, has 13 royal tombs that were opened in the presence of the Abbot-Prior of the Collegiate to enable a group of researchers to obtain all possible information from the royal remains. Several samples were sent to the Parasitology Unit of the Animal Pathology (Animal Health) Department at the Veterinary Faculty of León (Spain). In all the tombs, eggs and remains of nonparasitic mites were observed. In a piece of linen cloth from the bottom of 1 tomb, an Anoplocephala perfoliata egg was found. Furthermore, 4 mummified bodies were found. In 2 of these, those belonging to Infantes María and Fernando, Ascaris lumbricoides eggs were found and in the latter Trichuris trichiura eggs. We have not found in the literature reviewed any records of studies of this kind carried out in Spain.     

Prolegomenon to a history of paleoanthropology: The study of human origins as a scientific enterprise. Part 2. Eighteenth to the twentieth century

Modern scientific theories of human origins can be traced directly back to the discoveries, arguments, and theories of the seventeenth century. But as we have seen in the first part of this paper, a great many critical steps had been taken, ideas proposed, and discoveries made long before this. The scientific advances of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries owed much to ancient science, while still retaining many aspects of the medieval Christian world view. Yet both science and Christianity changed significantly as a result of the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, the voyages of exploration, and the changes wrought on European society as a result of industrialization. The question of human origins was directly affected by the archeological study of prehistoric ruins, new geological theories, the study of fossils, the discovery of “savage” peoples living in the New World, and the comparison of prehistoric stone implements from Europe with those collected in the New World. This proliferation of new discoveries, new theories, and the emergence of completely new scientific disciplines in the seventeenth century laid the foundation for the dramatic new discoveries and theories that came over the next three centuries.     

The Ideology of Authority and the Power of the Pot

Ramey Incised pots appear to have been manufactured at and dispersed from centers of chiefly authority during the 11th-12th centuries A.D. in a portion of the Mississippi Valley. Based on an analysis of motif design, meaning, and the archeological context of vessels, an elite ideology appears indicated in which chiefly lords were the mediators of the cosmos. This archeological perspective in political ideology begins to address the larger questions of the long-term dynamics of pre-state polities.     

Do not overlook Weismann-Netter syndrome in differential diagnosis of skeletal dysplasias

Weismann-Netter syndrome (WNS), a rare condition, is characterized by an anterior curvature of the bones of the lower limbs, usually bilateral and symmetrical. It was first described in 1954 by Weismann-Netter and Stuhl. We report a 2-year-old girl with typical findings of WNS who was misdiagnosed as having rickets. Our purpose is to draw attention to the WNS in the differential diagnosis of skeletal dysplasias. We think that the true incidence of WNS is probably higher than previously reported; therefore, we would like to emphasize that WNS should be considered in patients who have bowed lower extremities and have been diagnosed as having syphilis or healed rickets.     

Instant domestication process of European chestnut cultivars

This study presents the results of the first genetic analysis of ancient chestnut trees (Castanea sativa Mill.) in Italy and in the Iberian Peninsula to better understand the effect of grafting on the domestication process of chestnut and to investigate the impacts of early selection and improvement on the genetic diversity retained. We evaluated 105 giant ancient trees from Italy, Spain and Portugal and compared them with the European Union (EU) database of chestnut cultivars by using a set of 24 simple sequence repeats (SSRs; microsatellite markers). We measured the perimeter (girth) at the diameter at breast height (DBH). Samples from both the canopy and the roots of each tree were analysed to distinguish which trees were self‐rooted and which were grafted. Diversity was compared using standard metrics and model‐based approaches based on the expected heterozygosity (He) at equilibrium. We could differentiate 91 new genotypes; 9.6% matched known chestnut cultivars. We found the first evidences of cultivation, that is, grafting to produce “instant domestication” in Galicia and in the Douro Valley in trees of 14‐m perimeter (15th century) and in the Basque Country (first report in that area) in a tree of 11.5‐m perimeter (16th century). In Italy, the cultivar “Marrone Fiorentino” was found in some giant trees with perimeters of 8 and 9 m (17th‐18th centuries) in the Toscana and Umbria. Those findings matched with written references in Portugal from the 16th century and from the 18th century in Spain. “Instant domestication” could be dated back to the 15th century and was related to the wild populations existing in the same areas where cultivars are being propagated, without a different genetic structure for wild chestnut trees and with a high diversity maintained through the initiation of domestication.     

Widespread occurrence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA from 18th-19th century Hungarians

A large number (265) of burials from 1731-1838 were discovered in sealed crypts of the Dominican Church, Vác, Hungary in 1994. Many bodies were naturally mummified, so that both soft tissues and bones were available. Contemporary archives enabled the determination of age at death, and the identification of family groups. In some cases, symptoms before death were described and, occasionally, occupation. Initial radiological examination of a small number of individuals had indicated calcified lung lesions and demonstrable acid-fast bacteria suggestive of tuberculosis infection. Tuberculosis was endemic in 18th-19th century Europe, so human remains should contain detectable Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTB) DNA, enabling comparisons with modern isolates. Therefore, a comprehensive examination of 168 individuals for the presence of MTB DNA was undertaken. Specific DNA amplification methods for MTB showed that 55% of individuals were positive and that the incidence varied according to age at death and sampling site in the body. Radiographs were obtained from 27 individuals and revealed an association between gross pathology and the presence of MTB DNA. There was an inverse relationship between PCR positivity and MTB target sequence size. In some cases, the preservation of MTB DNA was excellent, and several target gene sequences could be detected from the same sample. This information, combined with MTB DNA sequencing data and molecular typing techniques, will enable us to study the past epidemiology of TB infection, and extends the timeframe for studying changes in molecular fingerprints.     

Sex determination of adolescent skeletons using the distal humerus

Accurate determination of the sex of immature skeletal remains is difficult in the absence of DNA, due to the fact that most sexually dimorphic features of the human skeleton develop as secondary sex characteristics during adolescence. Methods of assessment of adult skeletons cannot reliably be applied to adolescent skeletons because of the transitional nature of the skeleton at puberty and the variability of the adolescent growth spurt. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the accuracy of Rogers's method of morphological sex determination using the distal humerus (Rogers: J Forensic Sci 44 ( 1999 ) 55–59) to assess the sex of adolescent skeletons. The sample consists of 7 documented adolescent skeletons from the Christ Church Spitalfields collection at the British Museum of Natural History and 35 from the Luis Lopes skeletal collection housed in the National History Museum (Museu Bocage) of the University of Lisbon, Portugal. Ages range from 11 to 20 years. The technique achieved an accuracy of 81% on the combined sample of 42. This method can be applied to adolescent skeletons once the trochlea begins fusing to the humeral diaphysis, which occurred by age 11 years in the test samples. Am J Phys Anthropol 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

VIII.—Some Notes on the Birds ofPortugal

T he following notes were made by us in the spring of 1932 in the course of a short holiday spent in South and Central Portugal. We left Southampton at noon on 2 April by the R.M.S.P. 'Alcantara,' and landed at Lisbon at noon on 5 April, and the same evening we reached Setubal. After that our itinerary was as follows:—8 April from Setubal viâ Faro to Villa Real de St. Antonio on the Guadiana River at the extreme south-east of Portugal; 12 April from Villa Real de St. Antonio viâ Faro and Portimão to Monchique; 15 April to Portimão; 16 April to Faro; 17 April to Setubal; 21 April to Lisbon; 23 April to Luso-Bussaco, from which place trips were made to Coimbra, Aveiro, and Pereira; and we left for England on the 30th.     

Importation route of the sickle cell trait into Portugal: contribution of molecular epidemiology.

To elucidate the origin and spread of the sickle cell trait into the Portuguese population, we examined nine polymorphic DNA markers within the beta globin gene cluster defining the haplotype. The population sample included 64 sickle-cell-gene-bearing individuals from defined Portuguese-speaking white, black, and Asian Indian populations. The nature and geographic distribution of the different beta S haplotypes in Portugal suggest that the sickle cell trait has been imported twice: between the eighth and the thirteenth centuries from the Mediterranean basin (in association with the Benin haplotype) and after the fifteenth century from black Africa over an Atlantic route (Senegal and Bantu haplotypes).