Mercury in human bones and burial context: an osteoarchaeological approach

The relationship between humans and mercury pollution is investigated from a paleo-pollution perspective. We study the mercury content variability in Roman and post-Roman individuals, the skeletal mercury variability, the role of bone components in bone mercury content, the burial soil mercury distr...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Álvarez Fernández, Noemi
Tipo de recurso: tesis doctoral
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC)
Repositorio:Minerva. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:minerva.usc.gal:10347/31064
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10347/31064
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:240201 Archivos antropológicos
240401 Bioestadística
Descripción
Sumario:The relationship between humans and mercury pollution is investigated from a paleo-pollution perspective. We study the mercury content variability in Roman and post-Roman individuals, the skeletal mercury variability, the role of bone components in bone mercury content, the burial soil mercury distribution and the processes behind it, the bone-soil mercury relationship, and the role of skeletons and burial soil in mercury cycle. We confirmed skeletons as suitable paleo-archives, bodies as sources of mercury to the soil, that ante-mortem exposure affects intra- and inter-skeletal mercury variability, that context and location affect mercury burial distribution, the ante- and post-mortem origin of skeletal mercury, the minor role of soil on bone mercury, and that skeletons and burial soils play a role in mercury cycle.