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Cerebral tissues in human remains are rare archaeological discoveries. These tissues are typically saponified, meaning that their triglycerides have been converted to glycerol and fatty acid salts, or soap. In c.e. 79, a volcanic hot ash avalanche rapidly killed the inhabitants of Pompeii and Herculaneum. In the 1960s, at the Collegium Augustalium in Herculaneum, a human victim of the avalanche was found lying on a wooden bed, buried by volcanic ash. In this victim’s skull, we discovered apparent brain remains that were vitrified instead of saponified.

Detecting the ultrastructure of brain tissue in human archaeological remains is a rare event that can offer unique insights into the structure of the ancient central nervous system (CNS). Yet ancient brains reported in the literature show only poor preservation of neuronal structures. Using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and advanced image processing tools, we describe the direct visualization of neuronal tissue in vitrified brain and spinal cord remains which we discovered in a male victim of the AD 79 eruption in Herculaneum. We show exceptionally well preserved ancient neurons from different regions of the human CNS at unprecedented resolution. This tissue typically consists of organic matter, as detected using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. By means of a self-developed neural image processing network, we also show specific details of the neuronal nanomorphology, like the typical myelin periodicity evidenced in the brain axons. The perfect state of preservation of these structures is due to the unique process of vitrification which occurred at Herculaneum. The discovery of proteins whose genes are expressed in the different region of the human adult brain further agree with the neuronal origin of the unusual archaeological find. The conversion of human tissue into glass is the result of sudden exposure to scorching volcanic ash and the concomitant rapid drop in temperature. The eruptive-induced process of natural vitrification, locking the cellular structure of the CNS, allowed us to study possibly the best known example in archaeology of extraordinarily well-preserved human neuronal tissue from the brain and spinal cord.

OBJECTIVES We conducted a systematic macroscopic and microscopic examination of occlusal and para-occlusal wear in a large dental sample (n = 3,014) from 217 individuals dated to the Early Bronze age site of Gricignano d'Aversa, Italy. We used macroscopic and microscopic techniques to document nondietary occlusal and para-occlusal wear and to analyze calculus inclusions in some of the teeth. In combining an analysis of the wear with the calculus inclusions we linked the specific wear to the likely fiber that was involved in producing it. MATERIALS AND METHODS Teeth and their high resolution epoxy casts were analyzed through SEM and reflected light microscopes. Nineteen individuals (fifteen with activity induced dental modifications and four as a control sample) were examined for the presence of calculus inclusions. RESULTS Activity induced dental modifications (AIDMs), notches, grooves and micro-striations, were found in the 62.2% of the adult females, in 21.2% of the adults of unknown sex and in a single male. We found the full spectrum of dental manipulations from very minor nonocclusal wear in some young individuals to severe attrition at the other extreme. The width of the striations and grooves, mostly on the upper incisors, suggests a craft activity involving fibers and thread production and manipulation. From the dental calculus of two females with grooves and striations, we extracted three fragments of fibers, identified as hemp (Cannabis, sp.). Previously from Gricignano woven hemp fibers were found on both surfaces of a metal blade associated with a male burial. DISCUSSION This study found the co-occurrence of tooth AIDMs and the actual fibers preserved in the dental calculus. As more work is done analyzing dental calculus in a variety of humans, it is apparent that this biological material holds rich resources documenting non-dietary habits.

The scientific study of the victims of the 79 AD Vesuvius eruption began with the first discovery in the 1980s of hundreds of skeletons of people who had taken refuge in the suburban area of Herculaneum. Hundreds of human victims were found crowding the beach and a series of waterfront chambers, fixated into a final posture by the first of the deadly incoming pyroclastic currents. The towns of Herculaneum, Pompeii and other Roman settlements up to 20 kilometers away were suddenly hit and overwhelmed by successive ash-avalanches, fast moving clouds of hot volcanic ash and gases known as pyroclastic surges, capable of killing all residents who were not yet evacuated. Given the impossibility of access to the skeletal remains of the Pompeiians locked within the plaster casts and the sparse occasional finds of victims elsewhere, most of the anthropological studies focused on the victims discovered in Herculaneum. The first investigations were carried out to detect the biological and pathological features of these people. More recent multidisciplinary studies on the victims' skeletons and their volcanological context shed light on the dynamic impacts of the 79 AD Plinian eruption on the area around the volcano and on its inhabitants. The effects of the high temperatures of the surges as suffered by the remaining resident population were revealed, with crucial implications for the present-day risk of a similar outcome to around three million people living close to the volcano, including metropolitan Naples.

Background: Endemic fluorosis induced by high concentrations of fluoride in groundwater and soils is a major health problem in several countries, particularly in volcanic areas.Aim: To evaluate the occurrence of dental fluorosis resulting from exposure to high levels of environmental fluoride in 79 AD Herculaneum and close Vesuvius towns.Subjects and methods: The occurrence of dental fluorosis from teeth of the Herculaneum victims of the 79 AD eruption and some individuals from Pompeii (14-37 AD) and Nocera Inferiore (Salerno, IV sec. AD) was detected by means of Particle Induced Gamma-ray Emission technique (PIGE).Results: A clinical and analytical scenario of dental fluorosis resulted from the extreme high fluorine tooth content detected in teeth from Herculaneum and the Vesuvius area inhabitants. The adoption of PIGE technique has proved to be particularly effective in showing moderate as well as milder forms of dental fluorosis, otherwise not clearly detectable by clinical and histological analysis.Conclusions: Morphological, histological and elemental analysis of teeth of the 79 AD Herculaneum population show that in this area fluorosis occurred since Roman times.

Resume Le site d’Ain Dfali se trouve au sud de la ville d’Ouazzane et au Nord-ouest du village Ain Defali. Cette zone se situe a l’extremite ouest de la plaine du Gharb dans la zone sud des nappes pre-rifaines. Les formations quaternaires sont localisees sur la rive droite de l’oued Redat. Les grandes collines, a l’ouest du village d’Ain Dfali, sont constituees d’alluvions a cailloutis et a graviers attribuees au Quaternaire ancien. Au piemont de ces collines, le Quaternaire moyen prend place avec un relief attenue. La matiere premiere exploitee pour la confection de l’industrie trouvee sur le site est constituee essentiellement de quartzite avec un choix des supports de taille moyenne a grande. Les chaines operatoires ne sont pas completes comme demontre par l’absence de la composante relative aux eclats de mise en forme et de petites dimensions. Les chaines operatoires de faconnage et de debitage coexistent. Le faconnage est essentiellement represente par des bifaces et des chopper-nucleus. Les bifaces sont souvent faconnes sur une face et montrent d’importants residus corticaux ; il s’agit de bifaces sur eclats ou sur galets allonges et aplatis. Les eclats utilises comme support sont generalement corticaux. Les chopper-nucleus sont exploites par debitage unipolaire unifacial (de 3 a 5 enlevements) et montrent un tranchant sinueux probablement non fonctionnel. Les methodes de debitage sont Levallois (recurrent et lineale), discoide unifaciale et bifaciale et SSDA. Le debitage SSDA voit l’exploitation de 2/4 plans de frappe par une methode unipolaire pour l’obtention d’eclats de grandes/moyennes dimensions de formes irregulieres et souvent a residus corticaux lateraux. Tres peux produit retouche ont ete trouve. Le debitage Levallois est fait sur des galets aplatis et ronds, la mise en forme de la surface Levallois est realisee par des enlevements centripetes et le plan de debitage montre soit le detachement d’un eclat preferentiel de forme ronde soit une exploitation recurrente centripete ou recurrente unipolaire ; documentee aussi par la production des pointes Levallois. Le debitage discoide, sur galets arrondis, est surtout de type unifacial et voit l’exploitation preferentielle d’une convexite prononcee ou l’exploitation alternee de deux convexites opposees. Les produits obtenus sont epais et ont une forme triangulaire/quadrangulaire avec des negatifs convergents. Le materiel retrouve a Ain Dfali est le resultat d’un transport selectif et se trouve en position secondaire mais permet d’attester une importante occupation prehistorique acheuleenne dans la region.

Finding traumatic lesions on ancient skeletal remains offers a unique opportunity to investigate the circumstances surrounding the time of death. Here we present the unique find of a late 17

Finding traumatic lesions on ancient skeletal remains offers a unique opportunity to investigate the circumstances surrounding the time of death. Here we present the unique find of a late 17th, early 18th century young male from Southern Italy with eight traumatic skull lesions. A detailed anthropological examination using X-ray and 3D CT scanning techniques was conducted in order to evaluate traumatic extent, direction and degree of severity of each skull injury. The nature, number and timing of repair of the traumata suggest that they were intentional blows inflicted in battle. Gross and radiographic evidence shows that the individual survived long after one of these traumata, most likely suffered in a previous battle. Shape, size and location, as well as different orientation and implied trajectory of the multiple wounds, suggest that they were produced by a heavy, sharp cutting weapon. The perimortem aspect of most of the traumata revealed them to be contemporary injuries, suffered in a final assault by a heavy sword during a face-to-face combat. The largest and deepest fracture penetrating the skull cavity possibly resulting in traumatic brain injury was here suggested as the fatal one, even if the victim may have survived for several days prior to death.

Here we present a comparative study of stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope data from 81 individuals from the catastrophic death assemblage at Herculaneum (79 CE) and compare these with the attritional sites of Velia (Salerno, Italy, 1st–2nd century CE) and Isola Sacra (Rome, Italy, 1st–2nd century AD). The instantaneous deposition of the Herculaneum assemblage highlights some interesting differences in our contextual and methodological understanding of stable dietary isotopes, suggesting that isotopic variation between sites may sometimes be a result of greater temporal variability rather than truly comparable differences. Our results suggest that the people of Herculaneum obtained a relatively small proportion (ca. 30%) of their dietary carbon from marine foods; the majority originating from terrestrial foodstuffs of a similar carbon isotopic composition, most likely cereals. Also observed is a generally greater dietary isotopic enrichment in male individuals than females. We infer that males had greater access to fish which may be reflective, in part, of the sociodemographic framework characteristic of Roman society. Finally, we highlight the methodological challenges which may be faced when undertaking comparisons of δ13C and δ15N data between the various age-related strata of a population, particularly due to the slow and variable rate of collagen turnover.

In AD 79 the town of Herculaneum was suddenly hit and overwhelmed by volcanic ash-avalanches that killed all its remaining residents, as also occurred in Pompeii and other settlements as far as 20 kilometers from Vesuvius. New investigations on the victims' skeletons unearthed from the ash deposit filling 12 waterfront chambers have now revealed widespread preservation of atypical red and black mineral residues encrusting the bones, which also impregnate the ash filling the intracranial cavity and the ash-bed encasing the skeletons. Here we show the unique detection of large amounts of iron and iron oxides from such residues, as revealed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and Raman microspectroscopy, thought to be the final products of heme iron upon thermal decomposition. The extraordinarily rare preservation of significant putative evidence of hemoprotein thermal degradation from the eruption victims strongly suggests the rapid vaporization of body fluids and soft tissues of people at death due to exposure to extreme heat.

n thermally damaged archaeological bones the quantity, quality, and amplifiability of DNA are very much reliant on both the extent of heating and the environmental conditions of the burial context. In this study we tested the possibility of extracting and amplifying ancient DNA from human bone remains of Herculaneum victims of the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius using a combination of histochemical and molecular methods. Long bone samples with variable degrees of chromatic and morphological alterations consistent with exposure to temperatures of about 300 °C were taken from four specimens. Using histochemical stains, bone cryostat sections from three individuals revealed DNA within osteocyte lacunae but only for one sample the DNA was suitable for PCR amplification obtained, namely from reactions with the primer pair for X and Y amelogenin (AMEL) loci. The relative sequence differed from the homologous trait of AMELX deposited in GenBank for six bases, probably due to degradation processes following death. Our data are indicative that archaeological bones exposed to high temperatures of about 300 °C should be considered for DNA analysis, given the favorable conditions of corpse burial and skeleton preservation, such as those that occurred for the 79 AD victims in Herculaneum and Pompeii.

Nowadays, given the massive migration movements toward and across EU countries, age assessment can be highly useful for estimating the real age of asylum seekers or in medico-legal assessments of age-disputed children charged with criminal acts. Demirjian et al.'s dental maturity score is currently a dental scoring system universally adopted for age assessment of unidentified children. Here we explore the biological compatibility of Demirjian's scores with respect to the estimation of certain chronological ages of forensic interest through an algorithm based on the theory of constrained graphs integrated with combinatory analysis. Rather than simply respect Demirjian's indications (direct method) on a sample of children, we followed a reverse procedure (indirect method) as follows: i. chronological age selection and identification of the corresponding maturity score (MS); ii. determination of all the possible combinations of dental maturity stages whose sum of the scores is equal to the MS under consideration; iii. checking for all such possible combinations the biological congruity of the state of maturity of each tooth compared to the chronological age initially chosen. By evidencing dental development inconsistencies, our mathematical approach explains why Demirjian's method typically overestimates age. Therefore, even if the method in question remains the recommended way to assess individual dental maturity, it should definitely be considered unsuitable for application in certain forensic scenarios, particularly as regards the most disputed age range 14-16 years.

Here we describe the findings of a unique example of the early techniques adopted in neurosurgery around 5000 years ago, consisting in a double well healed skull trephination associated with a post-cranial traumatic event occurring intra vitam to a young male from the Early Chalcolithic cemetery of Pontecagnano (South Italy, ca. 4,900 - 4,500 cal BP). Morphological, X-ray and 3D-CT scan skull-cap evaluation revealed that the main orifice was produced by scraping, obtained by clockwise rotary motion of a right-handed surgeon facing the patient, while the partial trephination was carried out by using a stone point as a drilling tool. In both cases, bone regrowth is indicative of the individual's prolonged postoperative survival and his near-complete recovery. The right femur shows a poorly healed mid-shaft fracture presumably induced by a high energy injury, and a resulting chronic osteomyelitis, affecting both femurs by hematogenous spread of the infection. Our observations on the visual and radiological features of skull and femur lesions, along with evidence on the timing of experimental bone regrowth vs. healing of lower limb fractures associated to long-term bone infections now suggest that this young man underwent a double skull trephination in order to alleviate his extremely painful condition induced by chronic osteomyelitis, which is thought to have been the cause of death.

A volcanic catastrophe even more devastating than the famous anno Domini 79 Pompeii eruption occurred during the Old Bronze Age at Vesuvius. The 3780-yr-B.P. Avellino plinian eruption produced an early violent pumice fallout and a late pyroclastic surge sequence that covered the volcano surroundings as far as 25 km away, burying land and villages. Here we present the reconstruction of this prehistoric catastrophe and its impact on the Bronze Age culture in Campania, drawn from an interdisciplinary volcanological and archaeoanthropological study. Evidence shows that a sudden, en masse evacuation of thousands of people occurred at the beginning of the eruption, before the last destructive plinian column collapse. Most of the fugitives likely survived, but the desertification of the total habitat due to the huge eruption size caused a social–demographic collapse and the abandonment of the entire area for centuries. Because an event of this scale is capable of devastating a broad territory that includes the present metropolitan district of Naples, it should be considered as a reference for the worst eruptive scenario at Vesuvius.

The eruption's first surge instantly killed some people sheltering from the impact. The town of Herculaneum, lying at the foot of Mount Vesuvius on a cliff overlooking the sea, was buried by a succession of pyroclastic surges and flows (currents of volcanic ash and hot gases generated by collapse of the eruptive column) during the plinian eruption of ad 79. The skeletons of 80 of 300 people who had taken refuge in 12 boat chambers along the beach have now been unearthed from the first surge deposit. We have investigated how these people were killed by this surge, despite being sheltered from direct impact, after its abrupt collapse (emplacement) at about 500 °C on the beach. The victims' postures indicate that they died instantly, suggesting that the cause of death was thermally induced fulminant shock1 and not suffocation, which is believed to have killed many of the inhabitants of Pompeii and of Herculaneum itself.

BackgroundThe evaluation of mortality of pyroclastic surges and flows (PDCs) produced by explosive eruptions is a major goal in risk assessment and mitigation, particularly in distal reaches of flows that are often heavily urbanized. Pompeii and the nearby archaeological sites preserve the most complete set of evidence of the 79 AD catastrophic eruption recording its effects on structures and people.Methodology/principal findingsHere we investigate the causes of mortality in PDCs at Pompeii and surroundings on the bases of a multidisciplinary volcanological and bio-anthropological study. Field and laboratory study of the eruption products and victims merged with numerical simulations and experiments indicate that heat was the main cause of death of people, heretofore supposed to have died by ash suffocation. Our results show that exposure to at least 250 degrees C hot surges at a distance of 10 kilometres from the vent was sufficient to cause instant death, even if people were sheltered within buildings. Despite the fact that impact force and exposure time to dusty gas declined toward PDCs periphery up to the survival conditions, lethal temperatures were maintained up to the PDCs extreme depositional limits.Conclusions/significanceThis evidence indicates that the risk in flow marginal zones could be underestimated by simply assuming that very thin distal deposits, resulting from PDCs with poor total particle load, correspond to negligible effects. Therefore our findings are essential for hazard plans development and for actions aimed to risk mitigation at Vesuvius and other explosive volcanoes.