Modern bone

Antibiotics were used in folk medicine at least as early as 2500 years ago when the Chinese reported the medicinally beneficial effects of moldy bean curd. Evidence for some type of tetracycline antibiotic usage by the Sudanese-Nubian civilization (350 AD) was reported in 1980 (6). Fluorescent areas in human bones from this eta were observed that were identical in location and characteristics to modern bone from patients treated with tetracyclines. Identification of tetracycline in the ancient bones was further substantiated by fluorescence spectmm measurements and microbiological inhibition studies (7). 

Due to the way the modern bones have been sampled, only general patterns can be described from the measured isotopic values. The samples come... 

Hydrogen isotopic relationship between modern bone collagen and precipitation... 

Carnot, A., Researches on Fluorine in Modern Bone and in Fossil Bone, ... 

Modern human bone samples were analyzed to test the instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and to help establish more complete information on the natural levels of several trace elements in modem bones. The modern bones included seven samples of cortical bone and 16 samples of cancellous bone (eight of which were defatted). All samples were obtained from femoral heads. The data obtained for these 23 samples and a further description of the INAA technique have been reported elsewhere (13). For the purpose of comparison with the archaeological bone samples, this data obtained by using the same INAA technique is summarized in this chapter. 

C. Vance Haynes, Jr. of the University of Arizona at Tucson. The whale bone was obtained from Gifford Miller of the University of Colorado. The modern bones belong to an elephant that died in 1964 and was buried for six years prior to re-excavation. The elephant bones were obtained from Charles McNulty of the University of Texas at Arlington. 

II. In most cases the recovery of the amino acids is less than 100%. The proportion of the non-proteinaceous "contaminants are higher in the fossils than in modern bone and higher in the HCl-soluble fraction than in the HCl-insoluble fraction of collagen. 

Except as indicated, samples hydrolyzed 24 hr. Sample hydrolyzed 6 hr. d/l aspartic acid ratio for modem bone hydrolyzed 6 hr = 0.026 (33) thus, t = 0 term used in Equation 2 for these samples is 0j052. Sample hydrolyzed 4 hr. d/l aspartic acid ratio for modern bone hydrolyzed 4 hr = 0f)23 (33) thus, t = 0 term used in Equation 2 for these samples is 0.046. 

We also, in a separate section of the report, make preliminary report of our work on the ESR spectra of samples of heated modern bone and the correlation of the ESR spectra with and ratios from the collagen of some of... 

More recently, Michel and co-workers have studied charred modern bone by ESR, IR and x-ray diffraction, and have also studied Middle Pleistocene fossil bone from Lazaret Cave in France (25). They found that the IR feature that they took to be the signature of the organic component of the bone disappears from the spectra of bone that had been heated above about 400 °C. They also found that bone developed a characteristic ESR spectrum upon heating to temperatures between 200 °C and 600 °C, and that this spectrum was replaced by a different, much weaker, spectrum in samples that were heated above 600 °C. 

Samples of modern bone were taken from a beef rib that had been dried at 40 °C for an extended period of time. Samples ranged in size from 50 mg to 200 mg. The samples were heated in a thermostatically-controlled muffle furnace for... 

Figure 6. Changes in the g values with temperature for modern bone samples.

Figure 7 ESR spectrum of a sample of modern bone, heated to 400 and a simulation of the spectrum. See text for details.

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