Virtual histological assessment of the prenatal life history and age at death of the Upper Paleolithic fetus from Ostuni (Italy)

The fetal remains from the Ostuni 1 burial (Italy, ca 27 ka) represent a unique opportunity to explore the prenatal biological parameters, and to reconstruct the possible patho-biography, of a fetus (and its mother) in an Upper Paleolithic context. Phase-contrast synchrotron X-ray microtomography im...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2017-08, Vol.7 (1), p.9427-10, Article 9427
Main Authors: Nava, Alessia, Coppa, Alfredo, Coppola, Donato, Mancini, Lucia, Dreossi, Diego, Zanini, Franco, Bernardini, Federico, Tuniz, Claudio, Bondioli, Luca
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/181/19/2471
631/181/27
Age
Archaeology
Autopsy - methods
Burial
Computed tomography
Death
Dental enamel
Female
Fetus - diagnostic imaging
Fetus - pathology
Fetuses
Histology
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Italy
Life history
Mortality
multidisciplinary
Paleolithic
Pregnancy
Prenatal Diagnosis - methods
Prenatal experience
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Teeth
X-Ray Microtomography
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Summary:The fetal remains from the Ostuni 1 burial (Italy, ca 27 ka) represent a unique opportunity to explore the prenatal biological parameters, and to reconstruct the possible patho-biography, of a fetus (and its mother) in an Upper Paleolithic context. Phase-contrast synchrotron X-ray microtomography imaging of two deciduous tooth crowns and microfocus CT measurements of the right hemimandible of the Ostuni 1b fetus were performed at the SYRMEP beamline and at the TomoLab station of the Elettra - Sincrotrone laboratory (Trieste, Italy) in order to refine age at death and to report the enamel developmental history and dental tissue volumes for this fetal individual. The virtual histology allowed to estimate the age at death of the fetus at 31–33 gestational weeks. Three severe physiological stress episodes were also identified in the prenatal enamel. These stress episodes occurred during the last two months and half of pregnancy and may relate to the death of both individuals. Compared with modern prenatal standards, Os1b’s skeletal development was advanced. This cautions against the use of modern skeletal and dental references for archaeological finds and emphasizes the need for more studies on prenatal archaeological skeletal samples.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-017-09773-2