Skeletal modification by microorganisms and their environments |
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Authors: | M. Dolores Pesquero Lynne S. Bell Yolanda Fernández-Jalvo |
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Affiliation: | 1. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Madrid, Spain;2. Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel-Dinópolis, Teruel, Spainlolap@mncn.csic.es;4. School of Criminology, Centre for Forensic Research, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada |
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Abstract: | AbstractMicrostructural post mortem changes to skeletal tissues by microorganisms are driven by several factors including the death history of an animal, its decomposition trajectory, and the depositing environment itself. The study we describe here brings together material from recent and fossil contexts that are depositionally distinct from a terrestrial-marine transitionary shoreline environment. We compare these changes with those of marine environments previously identified in the Mary Rose material, and those of continental waters (lakes) previously identified in the Cerro de la Garita (Concud) site, and we document this against bacterially related changes observed from terrestrial contexts. A new microstructural change identified in material from terrestrial sites is also described relating to rootlet damage. By considering microstructural change in skeletal tissues, it is maybe possible to ascribe environmental context, or, to better understand the complexity of material presented by transitionary environments. |
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Keywords: | Microtunnelling terrestrial vs. aquatic environments aquatic microorganisms terrestrial bacteria fossil |
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