Protesi ortopedica egizia, 3000 anni fa!

Prosthetic pin 

discovered in ancient 

Egyptian mummy 


ArchaeoHeritage, Archaeology, Breakingnews, Egypt, Forensics, Greater Middle East, Near East 


Researchers during a routine DNA test on a male Egyptian have made an astonishing discovery after finding a 23 cm iron orthopaedic screw inside his knee. 

The mummy is believed to date to between the 16th and 11th centuries BC  

[Credit: Beyond Belief Archive] 

The mummy is thought to have died between the 16th and 11 century BC and the pin is held in place by organic resin, similar to modern bone cement. 
Medical experts were so amazed by this discovery they drilled through the bone to allow access for an arthroscopic camera to take a closer look. 

This confirmed what they believed was impossible – that this operation was performed over 3,000 years ago. 

Not only were the researchers astonished that the pin is ancient, but the highly advanced design had the visiting surgeons in awe. 

The 23cm long nail found inside the mummy's knee  

[Credit: Beyond Belief Archive] 

"The pin is made with some of the same designs we use today to get good stabilisation of the bone," said Dr. Richard Jackson, an orthopeadic surgeon from Brigham Young University. 
Apparently, the ancient Egyptian doctors knew how to use the flanges on a screw to stabilise the rotation of the leg.
 To date, no other mummy has ever been found with evidence of a similar surgery. "I have to give the ancients a lot of credit for what they have done," added Dr. Wilfred Griggs, who led the team of scientists conducting DNA research on the mummy when they made this incredible find. 


Author: Jenny Paschall | Source: Express [July 12, 2015]

Una punta di freccia nella vertebra

Iron Age warrior lived with arrowhead in spine 

ArchaeoHeritage, Archaeology, Asia, Breakingnews, Central Asia, Forensics, Kazakhstan 


 A horrific spinal injury caused by a bronze arrowhead didn't immediately kill an Iron Age warrior, who survived long enough for his bone to heal around the metal point, a new study of his burial in central Kazakhstan finds. 

The two-inch long arrowhead was lodged in one of the vertebrae of the early Iron Age  warrior, as shown in the x-ray images above [Credit: S. Tur et al.,  International Journal of Osteoarchaeology] 

"This found individual was extremely lucky to survive," said study researcher Svetlana Svyatko, a research fellow in the school of geography, archaeology and paleoecology at Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland. 

"It's hard to get a vertebral wound without damaging the main blood vessels, which would have resulted in an immediate death." 

The male warrior was likely between 25 and 45 years old, and stood 5 foot 7 inches (174 centimeters) in height, which was tall considering that his people stood an average of 5 foot 4 inches (165 cm) in height, the researchers said. 

They found his grave, an elaborate burial mound called a "kurgan," after getting a tip from local people who live in the area. The researchers have studied the area in central Kazakhstan for more than 20 years. 
Their work has shed light on the area's culture and the emergence of the powerful Scythians (also known as the Saka), a population of fierce nomads who lived on the central Eurasian steppes from about the eighth century B.C. to about the second century A.D., said study researcher Arman Beisenov, the head of prehistoric archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology in Kazakhstan. 

The CT images above show the cavity left in the bone by the arrow  and the healing and hardening of the bone tissue around it, as  shown by the white arrows on the left [Credit: S. Tur et al.,  International Journal of Osteoarchaeology] 

During an excavation of a famous Saka cemetery in 2009 (a dig that yielded 200 jewellery pieces and more than 30,000 smaller ornaments, such as beads), locals told the researchers about a nearby kurgan that had been shamefully neglected and heavily devastated, Beisenov said. "What local people often want is attention and respect to their history and customs, which is the foundation of their present life and the key to the future," he told Live Science.
 "Although the schedule of our excavations was extremely tight and prohibitive for any extension, we anyway decided to follow the tip and take a look at the remains of the kurgan." 
The kurgan was so magnificent that the researchers opened a new investigation, excavating the kurgan in 2010 and 2011. It was likely no more than 6.5 feet (2 meters) high and about 74 feet (22.5 m) in diameter when built, Beisenov said. 
However, evidence suggests that robbers plundered the site in ancient times, and that local people reused much of its soil and stones for housing in the 1960s and 1970s, he said. 

The researchers used CT scans to reconstruct how the arrowhead looks and  found it appears to have been made with a pure form of copper and tin. They say  it appears to have been a military grade arrow rather than one used for hunting   [Credit: S. Tur et al., International Journal of Osteoarchaeology] 

The grandiose grave suggests the individual belonged to the early Saka nomadic aristocracy, the researchers said. But the plundered kurgan held only a few scattered bones, including ribs, fibulae (lower-leg bones) and a vertebra. 
Radiocarbon dating suggests the individual lived sometime between the eighth and sixth centuries B.C., during the early Iron Age, according to the study. 
A close look at the man's bones revealed a bronze arrowhead — made of copper, tin, and traces of lead and iron — lodged in one of his vertebras. 

The researchers also found a rib with a healed fracture, but it's unclear whether the man received these injuries at the same time as the arrow wound, the researchers said. 
It's also unclear how long he survived following his injuries, they said. 
Computed tomography (CT) scans showed that the arrowhead, measuring 2.2 inches (5.6 cm) long, caused more than just a flesh wound. 
In fact, it "teaches us is the power of the human body to heal," said Aleksey Shitvov, a research team assistant at Queen's University Belfast who works with the group, but wasn't among the study's authors. 
The scientists also looked at the chemical composition of the man's bones, and found he likely ate more millet (a type of grain) than did many of his Saka peers, Svyatko said. "We can only speculate now what was the status of millet as a food for this society," Svyatko told Live Science. "Perhaps it was specifically accessible to high-ranked people or military elite, though this needs further investigation." 
The study was published online June 22 in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. 

Author: Laura Geggel | Source: LiveScience [June 29, 2015]

Il sangue umano più antico.

- Due ferite: una di freccia e l'altra un taglio sulla mano destra.  Sono state esaminate con una sonda nanotecnologica avanzatissima, che ha identificato con laser-scanner la tipica forma a concavità doppia dei globuli rossi...

- Il sangue umano in oggetto è il più antico mai trovato (5.300 anni fa circa) con certezza (altri reperti dell'età della pietra, su strumenti ed altro, non sono certi, in quanto varie altre entità possiedono forme analoghe al globulo rosso: grani di polline, batteri etc e con esso potrebbero essere state confuse). 

- La certezza. In questo caso, la rifrazione della luce del laser ha permesso di identificare con precisione una proteina tipica ed esclusiva del globulo rosso (emoglobina) ed una sostanza coagulante (fibrina.)

- Si tratta di un omicidio di 5.000 anni fa, per cause sconosciute: un uomo fu ucciso da una freccia scagliata con l'arco. Il caso di Iceman Otzi è un vero 'cold case' e s'indaga ancora... 

- La sua morte fu rapida dopo neanche qualche minuto; se fu dolorosa, ebbene: non soffrì a lungo. Questo si può affermare proprio per via della presenza della fibrina: quest'ultima si forma immediatamente, subito dopo la lesione. In un corpo vivo, però, scompare e viene riassorbita dopo pochi minuti.

- L'articolo dell'avanzatissima indagine è comparso sulla rivista Interface, autore Albert Zink, capo dell'Istituto per le mummie e per l'Icemen, di Bolzano, Italia. 

World's oldest blood found 

in famed

 "Iceman" mummy 



The world's oldest known blood cells have been found on Ötzi the Iceman, according to the latest research on the 5,300-year-old mummy. 
What's more, the discovery proves that the Stone Age homicide victim had a quick, if not painless, death. 

AFM images of red blood cells (RBCs). 

(a,b) Single RBCs from recent human tissue. (c) An assembly of RBCs. (d,e) Single corpuscles found in Iceman sample A and  sample B are shown. An assembly of several randomly distributed corpuscles,  similar to those found within the recent sample (c), are displayed in image (f). The imaged corpuscles (d–f) feature the characteristic discoid and concave  surface of RBCs 

[Credit: Journal of the Royal Society Interface] 

Ötzi has been the subject of extensive postmortem investigations ever since his corpse was discovered in an Alpine glacier on the Austrian-Italian border in 1991. 

No blood residue had previously been detected, however, despite various studies detailing his violent death due to an arrow shot and other injuries. 

"There were no [blood] traces found, even when they opened some arteries, so it was thought maybe the blood had not preserved and had completely degraded, or that he lost too much blood because of the arrow injury" on his back, said team member Albert Zink, head of the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman in Bolzano, Italy. 

For the new investigation, scientists traced Ötzi's wound areas—the arrow injury and a cut on his right hand—with a pioneering nano-size probe. 
Each minute movement of the probe was recorded with a laser, "so you get a three-dimensional image of the sample in a very tiny scale," Zink explained. The scans revealed classic "doughnut shape" red blood cells, the team reported Wednesday in the journal Interface.

While past studies have suggested evidence for prehistoric blood on Stone Age tools and other artifacts, "you can never really be sure, because you can see structures which are quite similar to red blood cells" such as pollen grains or bacteria, Zink commented. 

Ötzi the Iceman's mummified remains (shown above) were found on a glacier  on the Italian and Austrian border in 1991. Researchers have now discovered traces  of a molecule involved in blood clotting on the body, suggesting he bled rapidly  to death from an arrow wound to his shoulder 

[Credit: Reuters] 

To confirm they were indeed dealing with human blood cells, the researchers illuminated the wounds with a laser. The wavelengths of the scattered light revealed the substances' molecular makeup. 
"We got very typical samples for blood, like for the [blood protein] hemoglobin," he said. The new finding "really is the oldest clear evidence for red blood cells.

" The new nanotechnology, allied with an atomic force microscope, also uncovered traces of fibrin, a blood-clotting agent—evidence that the Iceman suffered a mercifully quick demise. 

"Fibrin is formed immediately when you get a wound, within a few minutes, but then it disappears"—in a living, functioning body, anyway, Zink said. 

"Finding fibrin in the arrow wound is confirmation that Ötzi actually died very quickly after the arrowshot."

"There were still some people arguing that he survived the arrow maybe a few hours or a few days, but this was definitely not true," he added. 

The relatively new techniques used in the study may in the future assist in the investigation of modern-day homicides. Since old blood cells are more elastic than fresh samples, the same blood-analysis techniques could become useful at crime scenes, Zink said. "If the blood is dry, forensic science really has no good method for determining the age of blood spots ... They cannot say if it is a day, a week, or a month old," he said. "If you can record with this technology little differences in the elasticity of the structure, then you can maybe determine the age of the blood spot." 

Author: James Owen | Source: National Geographic News 

[May 08, 2015]

Antropofagia, forse. Rituale di sepoltura, certamente.

Ancient human remains in Palawan reveal 

rare ritual burial.

9,000 years ago, in El Nido, Palawan, a woman was buried in a cave after she was disposed of in an elaborate and bizarre ritual.

Digitally reconstructed skull in Context 758 [Credit: International Journal of Osteoarcheology]

The bones of this woman were defleshed and crushed. They were burned and put in a small box before she was put in her final resting place.

A group of scientists have since found her remains: well-preserved fragments of bones, likely of a young or middle-aged woman, uncovered underneath the cave of Ille in the Dewil Valley, in El Nido. Direct dating showed that her bones are between 9,000 to 9,400 years old. 

A study of her remains was recently published in the International Journal of Osteoarcheology  by Myra Lara and Victor Paz of the Archaeological Studies Program of the University of the Philippines – Diliman; H. Lewis of the School of Archaeology of the University College Dublin; and W. Solheim II of the Solheim Foundation. 

According to the authors, the burial "demonstrate(s) a complex ritualistic treatment" that "has not (yet) been recorded in Southeast Asia."

"They are the first cremation burial directly dated to this period in Southeast Asia, and the earliest dated proper cremation burial practice in the region—an extremely rare and important find," Lewis told GMA News.

Cut marks on joints

Cut marks were found in her joints, which indicate that the people who conducted the ritual knew how to disarticulate the bones of a human body. Scrape marks on her bones and skull meanwhile proved that she was defleshed and skinned, Nathaniel Hermosa, a science blogger, said in his blog entry.

Bigger bones like the skull, thigh bone, shinbone, and arm bones were smashed with an anvil or a hammer; all these and the rest of her bones were then collected for cremation. Though, what her tribe mates did to her flesh is still very much questionable and suspicously like cannibalism. 

Ancient civilizations were rumored to have practiced cannibalism in their religious rituals. The Aztecs of Mexico, for instance, allegedly sacrificed their human captives to their gods and ate their corpses.

The Wari' tribe of Brazil, on the other hand, ate their dead relatives. Part of their ritual is eating a small shred of their deceased relative's corpse that was previously barbecued. The close kin of the deceased will then decide whether to burn or bury the bones. 

Was this what was done to the ancient woman before she was buried?

“The ritual indicates a sophistication in their expression of their cosmology,” said Victor Paz to Hermosa in an interview. “Now, regarding what happened to the flesh, this is anyone´s [guess].

Eaters of the dead?

While the removal of flesh might be plain mortuary ritualistic behavior, scientists are not discounting the possibility for cannibals; that her flesh was eaten by the people who buried her.

“Inferring cannibalism is such a contentious issue in archaeological discourse. While other researchers might readily infer cannibalism from the modifications in C.758, we prefer to tread with caution and infer the minimum, which is a mortuary ritual,” said Myra Lara, proponent of the study.

While consumption of all or some of the remains might have occurred, cutmarks and scrape marks are not enough evidence to prove this. 

“If in case we see human gnaw marks on other remains, then that will change the story,” Lara said.

Ritualistic burial is a rare practice in the Philippines. This is only the second archaeological cremation burial in the country, following the remains found in Pila, Laguna that could have been cremated later in the 13th to 14th century. 

More cremated remains were excavated by Paz and Lara's team, and are already in various stages of analysis. Results of these might shed light into this possible ancient practice.

Author: Kim Luces | Source: GMA News [September 30, 2013]

Mito e Malattia

UN DIO STORPIO E DEFORME

Perché mai Efesto (Vulcano) era deforme e brutto, tanto che la stessa madre Hera (Giunone) lo scaraventò via dall’Olimpo, relegandolo in un vulcano (l'Etna), che divenne la sua fucina? Perché non era bello e perfetto, Bombastico ed eccessivo, nei pregi e nei difetti anche del carattere, come tutti gli altri Dei dell'Olimpo? Perché era "quasi normale", tanto da distinguersi, da apparire come inferiore rispetto agli altri Dei?

Quale malata fantasia religiosa – ci si è sempre chiesti – può produrre un Dio sgraziato e storpio, che  conduce una vita rozza e possiede un lavoro tanto faticoso, certamente pericoloso e tanto umile, in esilio lontano dal Paradiso?

Gli antichi erano così 'poco svegli' da non comprendere che un mito deve essere creato almeno in qualche modo superiore all’uomo, figurarsi quindi un Dio? 

Ebbene, un motivo c’è. Non pretendo che sia l'unico vero, né che sia totalmente sicuro, Pasuco, ma è un motivo ragionato e molto credibile e certamente anche affascinante...

Il mito si è andato a formare nell’Età del Bronzo, proprio quando il fabbro (professione che fu una filiazione di quella del vasaio, probabilmente*) con la sua attività, diventava man mano sempre più importante per la propria comunità, a fronte della sempre crescente richiesta di strumenti di metallo,  sia per la vita quotidiana, sia per la difesa armata. 

A differenza della pietra (selce) e del vetro vulcanico (ossidiana), che possono essere riaffilate solo un limitato numero di volte (e che si ottundono persino durante il trasporto, se non 'imballate' accuratamente, più probabilmente con pelli animali), la lega del bronzo è virtualmente immortale e gli strumenti possono essere rifusi e ridati a nuova vita, proprio e unicamente dal fabbro.

In più, in bronzo possono essere realizzati pugnali e spade, prima quasi impensabili con la pietra: strumenti che cambieranno i destini dell’uomo e modificheranno le tattiche di guerra per sempre.

Poco importa che il vetro vulcanico e persino la selce offrano strumenti più taglienti e più affilati: alla lunga, nelle sue varie forme, la lega del bronzo (più dura del semplice rame martellato), bellissima quasi quanto l’oro (non ci si deve lasciare ingannare dall’aspetto ossidato verdastro dei reperti archeologici!), si affermerà ovunque. Il vetro sarà comunque usato ancora a lungo (come in Sardegna l'ossidiana, o in sala operatoria le lame vitree per i microinterventi oculistici, ad esempio).

Il fabbro divenne così un personaggio essenziale, estremamente importante in ogni comunità, tanto da essere – quasi immancabilmente – sepolto con l’onore degli strumenti del suo lavoro unico ed importantissimo.

Fu eroicizzato, quindi divinizzato. 

Ma – nella prima parte dell’Età del Bronzo – si lavorava prevalentemente il rame arsenicale (o bronzo d'arsenico, perché - di fatto - era già una lega e non un metallo puro), più facile a trovarsi perché più superficiale. Il fabbro, quindi, immancabilmente respirava i vapori d’arsenico e s’ammalava di quell’avvelenamento che oggi si chiama arseniosi cronica (da non confondersi con l'arseniosi acuta, altro capitolo interessantissimo, molto di moda nel rinascimento Italiano e tornato in auge tra gli Impressionisti).

I sintomi sono dovuti ad un blocco enzimatico della sostanza bianca e grigia del sistema nervoso, che (tra molti altri sintomi, tra cui meglio osservabili sono naturalmente quelli cutanei) conduce a sordità, zoppia e talvolta ad amputazione di parte degli arti… 

Ecco, con ogni probabilità, perché Efesto nasce come un Dio appunto storpio e deforme, essendo egli la trasposizione nel mondo divino di un fabbro terreno così come lo si conosceva bene: già gli antichi avevano saputo riconoscere in quei sintomi la malattia professionale del fabbro!

E – ancora più stupefacente, ma del tutto credibile – avevano trovato la cura più adatta, nella prevenzione.

Ecco quindi spiegato un altro piccolo mistero: perché mai, verso la metà dell’Età del Bronzo, in tutto il Mediterraneo ci si sia orientati verso una lega – il 'bronzo di stagno' – molto più difficile a realizzarsi che non quella arsenicale, per via della rarità dello stagno.

Anche in questo caso ci si era a lungo interrogati circa perché mai gli uomini del Bronzo sembrassero così stupidi, prima di accorgersi (noi) che (loro) – faticosamente, certo, ma ineluttabilmente – imparavano i primi passi della metallurgia, cadevano, come un neonato che impari a camminare, ma si rialzavano testardi e riprovavano … E' il classico procedimento definito per  'tentativo ed errore' che l'umanità ha adottato in tutta la propria Storia.

Ecco, questo del Mito Divino è uno dei modi dell’uomo di raccontare la propria storia. E’ un metodo antico, semplice, che ricorre alla creazione del mito altisonante ed alla simbologia della metafora per raccontare i propri tentativi andati a male e le correzioni apposte, a differenza di quello che si farebbe adesso, pubblicando un lavoro scientifico, descrivendo Scopi, Materiali e Metodi  ed elencando al termine le Conclusioni dedotte dopo averne ricontrollato la validità nella Discussione.

Non ti convince, Pasuco? Pazienza, se no. Ma io lo trovo credibile, oltre che affascinante. Per sicurezza, ti dò qualche altra info in nota°.

Che poi Efesto sia rappresentato come un uomo (perché il lavoro davanti ad un antica fornace era molto pesante e anche poco sano, esponendo a polmoniti e pleuriti, a parte l'arseniosi), non significa necessariamente che non ci siano state - nell'antichità - donne fabbro, proprio come ci sono anche adesso. Proprio recentemente ci si interroga su una tomba in cui è inumata una donna, con un corredo di strumenti tipici del fabbro...

In ogni caso, l’uomo dovrebbe conoscersi meglio, io credo, e ricordare la propria storia passata: chi non ha memoria dei propri errori, si sa, è destinato a ripeterli.
E quante volte ci siamo avvelenati da noi stessi, anche in tempi recenti, esattamente come il fabbro dell’Età del Bronzo?

* Il vasaio usava il forno. Probabilmente, sperimentando nuove possibilità di colori, mise a 'cuocere' campioni conteneti metalli ed osservò la prima fusione. Il forno del vasaio possiede tutti gli elementi (alte temperature, mancanza di ossigeno etc) per produrre la fusione dei metalli. La nozione comune di una prima fusione accidentale in un fuoco da campo è da considerarsi favolistica, in quanto non raggiunge mai le medesime condizioni. 


° Tieni presente, Pasuco, che i sintomi dell'arseniosi cronica descritta oggi non sono più quelli che erano osservabili allora: oggi infatti si tratta prevalentemente di ingestione (più spesso con l'acqua, più di rado con gli alimenti), talvolta di assorbimento transcutaneo (come accadde per il 'Liquido di Fowler'). Allora, invece, si trattava di respirazione diretta dell'arsenico, il che fa una discretamente grande differenza. 

I. Chronic Adverse Effects

    After a few years of continued low level of arsenic exposure, many skin ailments appear, i.e. Hypopigmentation (white spots), Hyperpigmentation (dark spots), collectively called Melanosis by some physicians and dyspigmentaion by others.  Also keratosis (break up of the skin on hands and feet).   We have assembled a collection of photographs of patients with typical symptoms.   We have plots of incidence of these ailments versus integrated dose and versus maximum dose for three villages in Inner Mongolia.  These suggest lineraity of incidence with dose above a possible threshold at 75 ppb in the water,  with incidence rising to approach 100%  near  1000 ppb.  In developed countries dyspigmentation and even keratosises do not always lead to death.  But in Bangladesh (as in ancient times), a farmer with keratoses on his feet may continue to walk upon them and develop gangrene.  Then his foot must be amputated and he can no longer work and feed his family.    So far several thousand cases of melanosis have been identified in Bangladesh but it is important to note that as of July 2005 only about 30% of the villages have been surveyed. More information from greater number of surveys may show a much greater number of  people affected.

    After a latency of about 10 years, skin cancers appear. After a latency of 20 - 30 years, internal cancers - particularly bladder and lung appear.These have all been seen in Taiwan and in Chile.  The data from Taiwan and Chile suggest that biggest risk of death is from internal cancers. The data from Chile suggests that 30 years after a 5-year exposure of drinking water at a concentration of 0.5 ppm (and reduced exposure thereafter) will result in a cancer risk of 10%. No one knows how to extrapolate to the lower exposure of 0.05 ppm (50 ppb or 50 micrograms per liter), but if one takes a "default" linear response,   the risk is 1%.   At the WHO guideline of 10 ppb, to be effective in the USA about 2006, the risk is still 0.2%.

     Arsenic absorption is also believed to lead to vascular disease.  

Chemistry

When heated in air, arsenic oxidizes to arsenic trioxide; the fumes from this reaction have an odor resembling garlic. This odor can be detected on striking arsenide minerals such as arsenopyrite with a hammer. Arsenic (and some arsenic compounds) sublimes upon heating at atmospheric pressure, converting directly to a gaseous form without an intervening liquid state at 887 K (614 °C). The triple point is 3.63 MPa and 1,090 K (820 °C). Arsenic makes arsenic acid with concentrated nitric acid, arsenious acid with dilute nitric acid, and arsenic trioxide with concentrated sulfuric acid.