Archaeological and Contemporary Human Hair Composition and Morphology

Bibliographic Data

ID2638396
AuthorsJosefina Mansilla, Josefina Mansilla Lory (0000-0002-1581-6462, National Institute of Anthropology and History, corresponding author), Pedro Bosch, María Teresa Menéndez (National Institute of Anthropology and History), Carmen Pijoan (National Institute of Anthropology and History), Carlos Flores (0000-0002-1892-6309, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico), María Del Carmen López, María del Carmen López López (0000-0002-8676-7135, Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Nucleares), Enrique Lima (0000-0002-5168-5981, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico), Ilán Leboreiro (0000-0001-7144-4790, National Institute of Anthropology and History)
Year2011
Volume43
Issue2
Pages293-302
Publication date2011-12-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueChungara (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0716-1182 • E-ISSN: 0717-7356
PublisherSciELO Agencia Nacional de Investigacion y Desarrollo (ANID) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.4067/s0717-73562011000200010
OpenAlexW1983056805
SciELOS0717-73562011000200010
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited5

Contemporary and mummy hair samples are characterized and compared, using modern chemical and physical characterization methods. It is found that in cave conditions mummy hair can be preserved even if it interacts with environmental dirt or soil, X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy results. Hair is an ion exchanger and the exposure to earth and water can facilitate the interaction of some elements with hair as shown by X-ray fluorescence, energy dispersive spectroscopy and neutron activation analysis. Post mortem degradation is detected through the reaction of cystine and through the partial collapse of the scale arrangement. The mummy hair scales become less ordered and the hair surface less smooth, such features were clearly observed by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The presented interdisciplinary results show that alteration of hair initiates in the core but scales are often well preserved. The features found in mummy hair suggest that the correlation between chemical composition and health or nutrition of ancient people should be carefully evaluated due to environmental contamination

Art · Humanities · Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis · Dental materials and restorations · Paleopathology and ancient diseases

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access