PRELIMINARY SUBMICROSCOPY OF A VERTEBRAL BONE FRAGMENT FROM A BITINIAN TOMB OF 2ND CENTURY BC IN BURSA, WESTERN TURKEY
Öz
Despite the availability oflarge amount of information on human bones, litle attentionhas been givento the environmental conditions of bone weathering and preservation. Secondary hydroxyapatite (carbonated hydroxyapatiteforprimary bone mineral) as the most well known butintriguing constituent of the bone was determined (SEM) in the pore spaces of a Bitinian (2nd century BC) mans vertebral bone fragment as aggregates together with probable amorphous compounds. Unweathered primary microcrystalline hydroxyapatites of the bone structure were also determined by TEM indicating resistance to weathering. Organic bodiessuch as the True Slime Moulds of the Phylum Myxomycota were observed feeding on hydroxyapatite fragments, and secondary minute hydroxyapatite aggregates forming on unnamed elongated mycelia. All these features add up to manifest the alterations that primarily occur in post mortem soil-less environments of bones more independently and freely than in soil media, without being masked by the numerous processesthe latterwould shelter.
Anahtar Kelimeler
Kaynakça
- Brown, P. W. and M. Fulmer, 1996. "The effects of electrolytes on the rates of hydroxyapatite formation at 25 and 38°C", Journal of Biomedical Materials Research 31/3: 395-400.