Hello,
we have also found some of them in samples from central Poland. They
were watched in high magnification -used for charcoal analysis and no
traces of plant cells were noticed so we described them as mineral
items (chemical).
With best wishes
Aldona
2011/5/10 Lisa Gray <[log in to unmask]>:
> What an amazing response, thankyou!
> I agree with the idea that they're probably a chemical phenomenon rather
> than mineralised plant material though I don't have the expertise to work on
> this (yet). These are new to me as I don't recall finding anything like this
> during my 6 years working on samples from London or my years since. I've
> only seen them in these samples from Northern France I thought it worth
> giving it my best shot for my client as they were carefully picked out by
> the archaeologists during excavation and it's the second time I'll be
> describing these 'mystery objects' to them. So, I'll conclude that we're
> all still trying to work out what they are but that we do know what they
> aren't. There'll be a soil scientist somewhere who know exactly what they
> are I'm sure.
> best wishes,
> Lisa
>
> On 10 May 2011 17:45, Wendy Carruthers <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Mark,
>> Thanks to your help with these 'nodules' over 20 years ago I also was able
>> to rule out the kidney stone suggestion by sending some to the London School
>> of Hygine & Tropical Medicine. They had no further medical suggestions.
>>
>> I think they might be too abundant in some deposits to be tapeworm cysts
>> or gut polyps - I had nearly 500 in a 30 litre soil sample from an Iron Age
>> ditch recut at Battlesbury Bowl, Wiltshire (the chalky soils may have
>> something to do with this?)!
>> Best Wishes,
>> Wendy
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Robinson"
>> <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2011 5:10 PM
>> Subject: Re: mineralised 'mystery objects' photograph
>>
>>
>> Dear Lisa,
>>
>> The picture of calcium phosphate mineralised 'mystery
>> objects'
>> from cess pits reminds me of the fun though complete lack of progress we
>> had with these items more than twenty years ago.
>>
>> They are certainly not legumes, come in a range of sizes, can be round to
>> kidney-shaped and sometimes have an apparent point of attachment in a
>> depression. They are not human gall stones or kidney stones (reference
>> material provided by my father who had one removed while the items were
>> being considered). Although they are common on British sites, they so far
>> seem to be absent from some large assemblages of mineralised remains
>> from a sewer at Herculaneum.
>>
>> I have two ideas of what they could be. One is calcified human gut polyps.
>> The other is calciified tapeworm cysts that were in meat that was eaten.
>> In
>> both cases they would have been tissue that experienced some calcification
>> in the host which perhaps encouraged the deposition of calcium phosphate
>> in the latrine.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>> Mark
>
>
> --
> www.lisagray.co.uk
> Lisa Gray MA (Maritime Archaeology-UCL) MSc (Bio-Archaeology-UCL) AIfA
> Freelance Archaeobotanist
> 89 St. John's Rd,
> Faversham,
> Kent,
> ME13 8EN.
> tel: 01795590603/ 07812028697
>
--
dr Aldona Mueller-Bieniek
Institute of Botany PAS
Lubicz 46
PL31-512 Kraków
0048 12 42 41 705
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