Brief communication

State of preservation of tissues from ancient human remains found in a glacier in Canada

Bibliographic Data

ID8311362
AuthorsMaria Victoria Monsalve (University of British Columbia, corresponding author), Elaine Humphrey (0000-0002-3743-0261, University of British Columbia), David C Walker (University of British Columbia), Claudia Cheung (University of British Columbia), Wayne Vogl, A Wayne Vogl (0000-0001-7694-7602, University of British Columbia), Mike Nimmo (University of British Columbia)
Year2008
Volume137
Issue3
Pages348-355
Publication date2008-11-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9483 • E-ISSN: 1096-8644
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ajpa.20864
PMID18609593
OpenAlexW2024836501
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited15

Ancient remains preserved in glaciers present a unique opportunity for us to advance our knowledge of human origins, diversity, and health, a central focus of anthropological studies. Cellular components of hard and soft tissue from frozen human remains dated between 1670 to 1850 cal AD recovered from a glacier in Canada were studied. Despite the expected ice crystal damage in some samples, regions of recognizable structure and ultrastructure were observed. We found that the state of preservation was tissue specific and that in some tissues the organelles were better preserved than in others. Skeletal, connective, nervous, and epithelial tissues were recognizable in some of the samples. DNA had been previously extracted from these remains and this study illustrates that the ability to successfully extract DNA may correlate with good preservation of histology. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc

Biology · Connective tissue · Evolutionary biology · Glacier · Organelle · Ultrastructure · Anatomy · Cell Biology · Forensic and Genetic Research · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Genetics · Paleontology · Histology

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