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
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