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Analysis of hair samples of mummies from Semma South (Sudanese Nubia).

Hair samples from 76 burials at Semna South (Sudanese Nubia) were examined using a variety of techniques. Electrophoresis and fluorescence microscopy indicated some oxidation of the cuticule and keratin protein had taken place. However, the cuticular structure and the lack of fluorescence of the cortex indicate that the low humidity and non-alkaline conditions preserved the physical and chemical properties of the hair well. Pigmentation, even allowing for oxidation of melanin, showed a higher proportion of lighter samples than is currently associated with the Nubian area. Hair form analysis showed medium diameter and scale count; the curling variables were intermediate between European and African samples. There was a high ratio of maximum to minimum curvature (a measure of irregularity), approached only by Melanesian samples. Meroitic and X-group burial types were not statistically significantly different (largely due to sample sizes), but the X-group, especially males, showed more African elements than the Meroitic in the curling variables. Principal components analysis showed the Semna sample to be significantly different from seven populations examined earlier.

Anthropology, Physical↗

The finding of helminth eggs in a Brazilian mummy.

Coprolites were collected with the aid of a rectosigmoidoscope from a naturally mummified body of a child. The body dates from 3.490 +/- 120 to 430 +/- 70 BP and was found in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The coprolites were rehydrated with a trisodium phosphate solution and concentrated by the spontaneous sedimentation method. Microscopical examination showed eggs the same shape and size as those of Trichuris trichiura and of an ancylostomid.

Ancylostoma↗

Paleoparasitology of Chagas disease revaled by infected tissues from Chilean mummies.

Mummified tissues were sampled from bodies stored at the Museo Arqueologico de San Pedro de Atacama, northern Chile, dated from 2000 years BP-1400 AD, and Trypanosoma cruzi DNA was recovered using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methodology. Amplification of the conserved region of the minicircle molecule of T. cruzi was achieved in four of the six samples tested. Amplified products corresponding to genetic fragments of the parasite were tested by hybridization experiments with positive results for T. cruzi specific molecular probe. The origin and dispersion of T. cruzi human infection is discussed as well as the molecular paleoparasitological approach, and what it may represent in an evolutionary perspective.

Animals↗