engleski

CT of ancient urns containing cremated skeletal remains

Purpose Paleoradiology plays significant role in archeological studies since invention of x- rays and its first implementation in imaging of mummies. Conventional x-ray units are everday tool in analysis of ancient remains, but so far only two articles describe paleoradiological use of computed tomography (CT) in study of skeletal remains in ancient cremation urns. Our purpose was to asess the role of CT in determining position of skeletal remains and metal elemenst inside of these microexcavation sites. Methods and Materials Fourteen (14) urns containing cremated remains from Croatian prehistoric (Late Bronze Age) archeological sites have been scanned with multi detector computed tomography (MDCT) unit (Sensation 16 ; Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany and Emotion 16 ; Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany). Axial CT slices were obtained using 16x1.5 mm collimation and 16x1.2 mm respectively. The scanning parameters were 300 mA and 140 kV. Results In 5 specimen metal artifacts were found ; pins, rings, armrings and rounded phalera. All metal was disposed to funeral pyre together with the deceased and damaged due to high temperatures. In all urns skeletal elements were located at the bottom of the container with some air elements between urn bottom and bones. It was not always possible to determine specific bones, but it can be noticed a pattern in grouping of specific bone types together. Conclusion CT provides new insights in acrhaeotanathology, although some limitations are present as soil has similar HU values to skeletal elements. Visualization of air indicates previous wrapping of bones in an organic material, which together with position of skeletal material at the bottom of urns gives us strong evidence that bones were previously placed in urns, and afterwards jointly buried with urns in graves. Position of metal finds inside container suggest that they were first collected from the pyre. CT, with high spatial resolution provides completely new insights in micro excavation and allows us to extract very precisely metal elements that otherwise could have been destroyed during the archeological workup. Valuable informations on refined procedures of funeral ritual obtained by CT make use of CT indispensable and standard part of excavation process.

CT ; cremains ; paleopathology ; Ancient history ; paleoradiology

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