TY - JOUR
T1 - Cinnabar-Preserved Bone Structures from Primary Osteogenesis and Fungal Signatures in Ancient Human Remains
AU - Cervini-Silva, Javiera
AU - Palacios, Eduardo
AU - De Lourdes Muñoz, María
AU - Angel, Paz Del
AU - Montoya, José Ascención
AU - Ramos, Eduardo
AU - López, Fanny
AU - Pacheco, Arturo Romano
N1 - Funding Information:
The work would not have been possible without the assistance of librarians M. R. Galindo Ortega and M. I. Escalante Vargas (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Unidad Cua-jimalpa, UAM-C). The authors are grateful to Mauro López-Armenta (PhD. Student, Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México and Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, CINVESTAV-IPN) for providing Figure 2. The comments of two anonymous reviewers contributed significantly to improve the original version of this manuscript. The project was supported by a grant from UAM-C and the Mexican Institute of Oil (Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo, IMP).
PY - 2013/8
Y1 - 2013/8
N2 - The Red Queen remains (700 A.C.) found at Palenque, México, are examples of cinnabar (HgS) application to royal remains during pre-Hispanic times. The Red Queen remains are those of a ca. 30-35-yr-old female and present a striking similarity to the remains of another Mayan woman found at Copan, Honduras. Thus, covering the remains of royal women with HgS may have been a common practice in the Mayan civilization. High resolution microdiffraction and microscopic analysis of the Red Queen remains showed the presence of nanotubular organic minerals comparable in composition and molecular dimensions to collagen fibrils, and in spatial ordering to collagen fiber networks. Fungal structures are rare in the geological record because of poor preservation potential. Micrographs revealed the preservation of fungal signatures, with morphology comparable to parasitic fungal-coral matrix associations, consistent with the idea that fungal remains can be preserved in environments which contain high Hg concentrations. The well-preserved signatures of fungus-animal interactions and primary osteogenesis in the Red Queen remains are attributed to the long-term antibacterial activity of HgS and the association of sulfur components with nanotubular structures.
AB - The Red Queen remains (700 A.C.) found at Palenque, México, are examples of cinnabar (HgS) application to royal remains during pre-Hispanic times. The Red Queen remains are those of a ca. 30-35-yr-old female and present a striking similarity to the remains of another Mayan woman found at Copan, Honduras. Thus, covering the remains of royal women with HgS may have been a common practice in the Mayan civilization. High resolution microdiffraction and microscopic analysis of the Red Queen remains showed the presence of nanotubular organic minerals comparable in composition and molecular dimensions to collagen fibrils, and in spatial ordering to collagen fiber networks. Fungal structures are rare in the geological record because of poor preservation potential. Micrographs revealed the preservation of fungal signatures, with morphology comparable to parasitic fungal-coral matrix associations, consistent with the idea that fungal remains can be preserved in environments which contain high Hg concentrations. The well-preserved signatures of fungus-animal interactions and primary osteogenesis in the Red Queen remains are attributed to the long-term antibacterial activity of HgS and the association of sulfur components with nanotubular structures.
KW - Maya civilization
KW - Pakal
KW - collagen fibers networks
KW - high-resolution microdiffraction and microscopic analyses
KW - long-term antibacterial activity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84878424946&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/01490451.2012.737090
DO - 10.1080/01490451.2012.737090
M3 - Artículo
AN - SCOPUS:84878424946
SN - 0149-0451
VL - 30
SP - 566
EP - 577
JO - Geomicrobiology Journal
JF - Geomicrobiology Journal
IS - 7
ER -