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Effect of humidity on Chinchorro skin degradation: the mummy skin was assessed for degradation following 21 days of incubation with a bacterial consortium at ambient temperature (23 @BULLET C), at high humidity (75–80% RH).
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Biodeterioration of cultural heritage artifacts due to microbial activity presents a significant challenge to conservators and museums around the World. A collection of Chinchorro mummies recovered from the Atacama Desert (the oldest artificial mummies ever found, dating back to 5050 B.C.E.) has been stored in the Universidad de Tarapacá, northern...
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Context 1
... skin degradation was then assessed by estimating the concentration of hydroxyproline (OHPro) released from tissue as a marker for collagen and elastin proteins degradation (Fig. 6). Quantification of the unbound and soluble proteolytic fragments derived from collagen and elastin by its hydroxyproline content was performed. OHPro standards, ranging from 0-4 g/mL OHPro, yielded absorbance measurements ranging from 0.1638 to 2.785 and a standard curve was calculated. Homogenization of skins of identical volumes was ...
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... was not introduced in OHPro quantification during this step. The amounts of OHPro liberated from Chinchorro skin inoc- ulated and incubated at high humidity was significantly higher than the control (46.60 vs 26.70 g per 10 mg of dry mummy skin, respectively), in which the natural microflora may have been slowly degrading the collagenous proteins (Fig. ...
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... rates of collagen and elastin protein degradation was found to vary as a function of humidity during the incubation period of 21 days. Chinchorro skin degradation significantly increased (P ≤ 0.05) when subjected to microbial inoculation and incubation at high humidity (Fig. 6). In all humidity ranges studied, there was a negligible amount of OHPro released from the controls as determined from OHPro concentration in collagenous fragments released from pig skins. Statistical analysis revealed that there was no significant difference (P ≥ 0.05) in the degradation of colla- genous proteins between controls (P = ...
Citations
... These factors cause tissue degradation, which when accumulated become evident and can lead to the destruction of the body or anatomical segment, especially in bodies as fragile as the Chinchorro. 42 In contrast, replicas allow both transmission of knowledge as well as memorable experiences, without the need to have a real human body in a showcase, thereby contributing to a better relationship with the various communities, traditions, and beliefs of the people who visit us, and performing a social role but with an ethical treatment of the corpses. ...
... Essential oils (EOs) comprise a green alternative to using biocides of chemical origin due to their toxic-free, sustainable, and literature on the application of these natural biocides in mummified materials, fungal biodeterioration has been reported in this type of organic material, such as in several mummies of the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Italy [21] , in Chinchorro, Chile [22] and another mummy located in the Archaeological Museum of Zagreb, Croatia [23] . ...
The study of the potential use of essential oils in the field of Cultural Heritage has increased in the last decade due to their demonstrated antimicrobial potential and absence of toxicity. This work aimed at assessing, for the first time, the volatile antifungal activity of two essential oils (EOs) (Origanum vulgare and Syzygium aromaticum) against fungi isolated from biodeteriorated archaeological mummified skin. The object of study was a mummified Mustela frenata from the Tiahuanaco culture of Bolivia. The fungi found on the archaeological animal's skin were preliminarily isolated and identified by DNA-based analysis. Subsequently, the volatile essential oil biocidal activity was evaluated on parchments inoculated with the isolated fungi (Aspergillus tabacinus, Aspegillus tennesseensis, and Trichoderma longibrachiatum). Vapour tests were conducted in Petri dishes and parchment specimens to assess the fungicidal effect of volatile components of EOs. The volatile EOs used in this study showed antifungal activity against the tested fungi. The oregano showed to be the most effective EO in the in vitro and parchment tests for the three fungal strains. The use of EOs, particularly oregano EO, represents a promising green strategy for the sustainable conservation of organic-based cultural assets.
... The scientific study of ancient human mummified skeletal remains has gained much attention over the past years with the improvement and progression of laboratory techniques (DeAraujo et al. 2016). The cartonnage in ancient Egypt appeared as an alternative from the deceased features through which the spirit can reach the body again if the mummy was damaged (Ali et al. 2016). ...
... Microorganisms (bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungi) cause the most serious damage to mummies (Naji et al. 2014). Ancient human remains and mummies were damaged by microbial species in processes that liquefying, degrading, or mineralizing different materials causes corrosion, fouling, rotting, declining, and disfiguring (DeAraujo et al. 2016). ...
Fungal deterioration is one of the major factors that significantly contribute to mummy cartonnage damage. Isolation and molecular identification of thirteen fungal species contributing to the deterioration of ancient Egyptian mummy cartonnage located in El-Lahun regions, Fayoum government, Egypt was performed. The most dominant deteriorated fungal species are Aspergillus flavus (25.70%), Aspergillus terreus (16.76%), followed by A. niger (13.97%). A newly synthesized series of tetrahydro-[1,2,4]triazolo[3,4-a]isoquinoline chalcone derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their antifungal activities in vitro against the isolated deteriorated fungal species ( Aspergillus flavus, A. niger, A. terreus , Athelia bombacina , Aureobasidium iranianum , Byssochlamys spectabilis , Cladosporium cladosporioides , C. ramotenellum , Penicillium crustosum , P. polonicum , Talaromyces atroroseus , T. minioluteus and T. purpureogenus ). The most efficient chalcone derivatives are new chalcone derivative numbers 9 with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranging from 1 to 3 mg/mL followed by chalcone derivatives number 5 with MIC ranging from 1 to 4 mg/mL.
... Microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi, are pervasively found in almost all types of habitats in cultural heritage sites on earth, such as rock caves, cave temples, archaeological sites and museums. The growth of microorganisms may contribute to the severe biodeterioration of fragile artworks (Schabereiter-Gurtner et al., 2004;Gonzalez et al., 2008;Ma et al., 2015;DeAraujo et al., 2016;Duan et al., 2017). Previous studies have documented microbial outbreaks causing aesthetic and mechanical damage of murals such as pigment discoloration, cracking and disintegration of painted layers caused by contamination and biofilm formation on the painted surface, and flaking of the painted layer from the underlying support layer because of binders' degradation (Schabereiter-Gurtner et al., 2002;Dupont et al., 2007;Portillo et al., 2009;Bastian et al., 2010;Felice et al., 2010;Pepe et al., 2010). ...
In this study, a systematic survey of cultural airborne fungi was carried out in the occurrence environments of wall paintings that are preserved in the Tiantishan Grottoes and the Western Xia Museum, China. A bio-aerosol sampler was used for sampling in four seasons in 2016. Culture-dependent and-independent methods were taken to acquire airborne fungal concentration and purified strains; by the extraction of genomic DNA, amplification of fungal ITS rRNA gene region, sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis, thereafter the fungal community composition and distribution characteristics of different study sites were clarified. We disclosure the main environmental factors which may be responsible for dynamic changes of airborne fungi at the sampling sites. The concentration of cultural airborne fungi was in a range from 13 to 1, 576 CFU/m 3 , no significant difference between the two sites at the Tiantishan Grottoes, with obvious characteristics of seasonal variation, in winter and spring were higher than in summer and autumn. Also, there was a significant difference in fungal concentration between the inside and outside of the Western Xia Museum, the outside of the museum was far more than the inside of the museum in the four seasons, particularly in the winter. Eight fungal genera were detected, including Cladosporium, Penicillium, Alternaria, and Filobasidium as the dominant groups. The airborne fungal community structures of the Tiantishan Grottoes show a distinct characteristic of seasonal variation and spatial distribution. Relative humidity, temperature and seasonal rainfall influence airborne fungal distribution. Some of the isolated strains have the potential to cause biodeterioration of ancient wall paintings. This study provides supporting information for the pre-warning conservation of cultural relics that are preserved at local sites and inside museums.
... A niger among other microorganisms was isolated from skin and a dark exudate in a collection of Chimchorro mummies (5050 BC.) from the Atacama Desert in Chile. [133] . Samples from the mummy collection of the Archaeological museum in Zagreb, Croatia showed A. fumigatus found from the abdominal cavity. ...
Biodeterioration is related to several biological systems and metabolic activities of fungi and bacteria. Fungal contamination is determined by the availability of water and temperature. Aspergillus is a fungus with great enzymatic capacity and with a high biodeterioration power. For this reason, it represents a threat to the conservation of cultural heritage objects. In this work, an exhaustive search of all the species involved was carried out, describing in detail the deterioration produced in different objects (wooden objects, glasses, paper, paintings, textiles, audiovisuals, glasses, human remains) as well preventive treatments. Like an opportunistic fungus it might cause some illness related to workers, a situation that is also addressed. Since the number of species increased from 180 to over 400 in the last 20 years, a taxonomy update has been done.
... Š imonovičová et al. (2015) found mainly Aspergillus and Penicillium species among moulds identified from the muscles, bones, skin and funeral clothes of the mummified human remains of three members of the Kuffner family (Slovakia). Also, DeAraujo et al. (2016) indicated Aspergillus (A. niger) and Penicillium (P. chrysogenum) as typical for the Chinchorro mummies (the oldest examples of artificially mummified human remains), dating from 5050 BCE. ...
The aim of this study was to characterise the microbial and metabolite diversity in samples of biodeteriorated 18th century silk from the burial crypts of the Church of St Francis of Assisi in Kraków (Poland). Highthroughput Illumina sequencing, surface-assisted laser desorption/ionisation mass spectrometry on a silver nanoparticle enhanced target (¹⁰⁹Ag SALDI), and laser ablation-remote-electrospray ionisation-selected reaction monitoring-ambient mass spectrometry imaging (LARESI MSI) were employed. The use of high throughput Illumina sequencing helped obtain a broader picture of microbiocenosis compared to earlier studies. The ¹⁰⁹Ag SALDI method enabled the qualitative analysis of the entire chemical compound profile of silk. A few hundred metabolites, including peptides, amino acids, urea and organic acids dominated by N-(3-oxododecanoyl)-L-homoserine, decanoylcholine, formiminoalanine and hexacosatrienoic acid were detected in archaeological silk, whereas about 100 metabolites, mainly represented by polymers, were detected in contemporary and restored silk. The novel ambient MS imaging method LARESI MSI, used for the first time for the archaeological silk biodeterioration analysis, allowed the direct detection and mapping of selected amino acids, historical dyes and dihydroxybenzoic acid (decomposition product of tannins) on the silk samples. Based on our results, the suitability of the tested methods should also be considered for other historical objects.
... Periconia spp. and other fungi present in soil biosphere, have been found to be keratinolytic (Eliades et al., 2010;De Araujo et al., 2016). Therefore the hair deterioration observed in OM and SEM is possibly also due to these fungi. ...
Study of a child mummy's lock of youth hairs. Digital photography, measuring of dimensions, stereoscopic observation, LED optical microscopy, SEM/EDS. Description of colour and hair morphology, description of covering material on the hair (possibly cosmetics or embalming material), description of preservation state, evidence of micro-organisms. Suggestions for preventive conservation. 4 OM images, 6 SEM micrographs.
... The microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi, are pervasively found in almost all types of habitats in cultural heritage sites on earth, such as rock caves, cave temples, archaeological sites and museums, the growth of microorganisms may contribute to the severe biodeterioration of fragile artworks [1][2][3][4][5]. Some of the previous studies had shown us microbial outbreaks causing aesthetic and mechanical damage of mural paintings like pigments discoloration, cracking and disintegration of painted layers caused by contamination and bio lm formation on the painted surface, and aking of the painted layer from the underlying support layer because of binders' degradation [6][7][8][9][10][11]. Actually, atmosphere is an important microbe's reservoir with ca. ...
Background: The deposition of the airborne fungi onto cultural heritage is associated closely with the subsequently biodeterioration taking place. In this study, a systematic survey of the culturable airborne fungi was carried out in the occurrence environments of the wall paintings that preserved in the Tiantishan Grottoes and the Western Xia Museum, China. Bio-aerosol sampler was used for sampling in four seasons of 2016. Culture-dependent and -independent methods was taken to acquire the airborne fungal concentration and purified strains; by the extraction of genomic DNA, amplification of fungal ITS rRNA gene region, sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis, thereafter the fungal community composition and distribution characteristics of different study sites were clarified. Finally, we disclosure the main environmental factors which may responsible for the dynamic changes of the airborne fungi at the sampling sites.
Results: The concentration of culturable airborne fungi was in a range from 13 to 1576 CFU/m³, no significant difference between the two sites at the Tiantishan Grottoes, with the obvious characteristics of the seasonal variation, in winter and spring were higher than in summer and autumn. Meanwhile, a significance difference in fungal concentration between inside and outside of the Western Xia Museum, the outside of the museum was far more than the inside of the museum in the four seasons, particularly in the winter. Eight fungal genera were detected, including Cladosporium, Penicillium, Alternaria, and Filobasidium as the dominant groups. The airborne fungal community structures of the Tiantishan Grottoes showed a distinct characteristic of seasonal variation and spatial distribution. Relative humidity, temperature and seasonal rainfall all have influences on the airborne fungal distribution. Some of the isolated strains have potential to cause biodeterioration of the ancient wall paintings.
Conclusions: The prominent seasonal variation of airborne fungal concentrations, community structures and distribution patterns were found in this study, that have close relationship with local climate conditions of the Tiantishan Grottoes. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out the long period monitoring of airborne fungal flora in the future, and integrated it into a pre-warning monitoring and conservation system.
... Similar structures were observed for the skin of Chinchorro mummies recovered from the Atacama Desert. 33 They were assigned to a few bacterial and fungal strains responsible for consecutive degradation of the mummies. Elemental composition of the oval structures and the background (Fig. 4A, point 2) was similar. ...
In the pre-Hispanic Central Andes, the mummified bodies of ancestors stood as the basis for the social and cosmic order. However, the mummification techniques in that region are still poorly understood, as there have been surprisingly few archaeometric studies on their technical aspects. For that reason, we selected two mummies of the Chancay culture (900-1533 AD), on which to perform extensive chemical characterisation using a combination of molecular and elemental analysis and nanoscale imaging. The multimodal chemical study included the use of ATR FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, SEM-EDX, GC-MS and HPLC-MS techniques, and allowed the identification of a plethora of organic and inorganic substances present in their skin. Moreover, we were able to recognise different patterns of decomposition in each case. Data obtained during this study suggest that, in the last centuries before the Inca Empire conquered the Peruvian Central Coast, local societies treated some of their dead in a special manner, covering their bodies with balms composed of many substances. Some of these substances had anti-decay properties and could stop further decomposition of the skin.
... The most common intersection of microbiology and mummies lies in the study of ancient pathogens, and many studies have focused on various epidemic and infectious diseases (Anastasiou and Mitchell, 2013;Chan et al., 2013;Devault et al., 2014;Duggan et al., 2016;Maixner et al., 2016). Only a few studies have investigated the microbial communities responsible for the deterioration of mummies, which are considered valuable relics from our historical and cultural heritage (Jurado et al., 2010;Piñar et al., 2013;Šimonovi cová et al., 2015;DeAraujo et al., 2016). ...
... It seems likely that biodeterioration is occurring on and in the mummy's body, but slowly. This decomposition processes might increase rapidly if the environmental conditions, such as temperature and especially relative humidity are not kept under control [the strong effects of relative humidity were shown by DeAraujo et al. (2016)]. In order to preserve the mummy, it would be necessary to carry out specific preservation measures, at least to limit as much as possible microbial colonization and its degradation activity. ...
This microbiological survey was performed to determine the conservation state of a mummy in the Slovak castle of Krásna Hôrka and its surrounding environment. Culture‐dependent identification was coupled with biodegradation assays on keratin, gelatin and cellulose. Next Generation Sequencing using Illumina platform was employed for a deeper microbial investigation. Three environmental samples were collected: from the glass of the sarcophagus, from the air inside it, and from the air of the chapel where the mummy is located. Seven different samples were taken from mummy's surface: from the left ear, left hand palm, left hand nail, left instep, right hand, abdomen and mineral crystals embedded within the skin. Three internal organ samples, from the lung, pleura and stomach, were also included in this study. Together, the culture‐dependent and culture‐independent analyses revealed that the bacterial communities present had fewer taxa than the fungal ones. The mycobiome showed the largest variability and included Epicoccum nigrum, Penicillium spp., Alternaria spp., Aspergillus spp., Cladosporium spp., and Aureobasidium pullulans; many other Ascomycota and Basidiomycota genera were detected by NGS. The most interesting results came from the skin mineral crystals and the internal organs. The hydrolytic assays revealed those microorganisms which might be considered dangerous “mummy pathogens”.
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