FAS Abstracts 2004 Meeting Page

Anthropological Sciences (ANT): ANT-9

|search by author| |return to ANT 2004| |return to FAS 2004|

Ancient antibiotics: tetracycline in bone from the Southwestern Egypt.  C. MAGGIANO (1), T. DUPRAS (2), and J. BIGGERSTAFF (3). (1) Dept. of Bio. and (2) Dept. of Soc. & Anth., Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816. (3) Ctr. Biomarker Anlys., Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37932.  Tetracycline (TC) contamination of food products by S. aureofaciens has been found in Northern Africa.  In addition to bactericidal effects, TC limits bone formation in utero and may hinder bone resorption. We analyzed Roman-Egyptian human and animal bone (2100 to 1600 BP) from the Dakhleh Oasis.  Due to TC’s natural fluorescence we were able to use Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM).  Most samples show TC exposure and Kellis 1 and Kellis 2 cemeteries display differences in fluorecence.  CLSM allows three-dimensional, high-resolution imaging, resulting in increased accuracy in our analysis.  Further investigation could have implications beyond archaeological contexts due to multiple modern uses for TC therapy