Há décadas um escalpo peruano, datado do período pré-colombiano, foi examinado por um pesquisador da Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. O Professor Olympio da Fonseca Filho descreveu lêndeas e adultos fixos a fios de cabelos e fez comentários sobre a origem da infecção por piolhos na espécie humana. Este mesmo escalpo foi enviado ao nosso laboratório e é objeto deste artigo. Sua análise mostrou maciça infestação, com nove lêndeas/cm2 em impressionante número de adultos muito bem preservados. O tempo de infestação foi estimado em cerca de nove meses antes da morte, baseado na maior distância entre lêndeas e o couro cabeludo, levando em consideração taxa média de crescimento capilar de 1 cm por mês. Um pequeno pedaço de tecido tradicional peruano foi encontrado associado ao escalpo, provavelmente pertencente ao conjunto de peças usado no ritual funerário. Aqui, apresentamos alguns aspectos morfológicos de adultos e lêndeas vizualizados por microscopia eletrônica de varredura de baixo vácuo.

A pre-Columbian Peruvian scalp was examined decades ago by a researcher from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation. Professor Olympio da Fonseca Filho described nits and adult lice attached to hair shafts and commented about the origin of head lice infestations on mankind. This same scalp was sent to our laboratory and is the subject of the present paper. Analysis showed a massive infestation with nine eggs/cm2 and an impressive number of very well preserved adult lice. The infestation age was roughly estimated as nine months before death based on the distance of nits from the hair root and the medium rate of hair growth. A small traditional textile was associated with the scalp, possibly part of the funerary belongings. Other morphological aspects visualized by low-vacuum scanning electron microscopy are also presented here for adults and nits.

Desde os anos 1880, a arqueologia dos remanescentes humanos no Brasil esteve quase restrita aos estudos osteométricos, osteológicos ou dentários em laboratório. Atualmente, a bioarqueologia avança por abordagens mais complexas, que iniciam na interpretação de estruturas funerárias e deposicionais contendo ossos humanos. Metodologias aplicáveis não apenas pelo especialista, mas também por arqueólogos generalistas, vêm sendo testadas com sucesso em campo e laboratório, auxiliando na identificação, documentação, resgate e interpretação de deposições de ossos humanos em sítios arqueológicos. Por outro lado, houve mudança nos paradigmas que dizem respeito à interpretação arqueológica dos sítios com remanescentes humanos. A interpretação dos gestos e processos que antecedem, acompanham e sucedem a deposição do morto e seus remanescentes requer leituras arqueológicas e bioarqueológicas integradas. Apenas ossos in situ são capazes de informar sobre como remanescentes humanos foram manejados em antigos atos e gestos, e sobre o modo como os sítios arqueológicos foram construídos e transformados ao longo do tempo e em torno deles. Aqui discutimos o porquê e como os ossos in situ podem ser mais informativos sobre os sítios arqueológicos do que sobre as vidas passadas que representam, e porque é importante que os arqueólogos os interpretem em campo.

Since the 1880s the archaeology of human remains in Brazil was most limited to the laboratory osteometric, osteologic and dental techniques. Currently, bioarchaeology progresses through more complex approaches, which start in the interpretation of funerary and depositional structures containing human remains. Methodologies that can be used not only by specialists but also by archaeologists are available, both in the field as in the laboratory, helping to identify, document, recover and interpret human bone deposition in archaeological sites. On the other side, there were changes in the paradigms concerning the interpretation of sites containing human remains. The interpretations of the processes and attitudes that preceded, followed and succeeded the funerals or deposition of the human remains require more integration between archaeology and bioarchaeology in the field. Bones in situ are the only evidences able to tell us about the way the remains were manipulated in past acts and gestures, and how the archaeological sites were built and changed around them along the time. Here we discuss why and how bones in situ may be more informative about the archaeological sites themselves than about the lives they represent, and why it is important for the archaeologists to know how interpret them still in the field.

Parasite findings in sambaquis (shell mounds) are scarce. Although the 121 shell mound samples were previously analysed in our laboratory, we only recently obtained the first positive results. In the sambaqui of Guapi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, paleoparasitological analysis was performed on sediment samples collected from various archaeological layers, including the superficial layer as a control. Eggs of Acanthocephala, Ascaridoidea and Heterakoidea were found in the archaeological layers. We applied various techniques and concluded that Lutz's spontaneous sedimentation technique is effective for concentrating parasite eggs in sambaqui soil for microscopic analysis.

One of the crucial steps of authentication of aDNA sequences is phylogenetic consistency. Amplified sequences should fit into the phylogenetic framework of their supposed origin. An inherent property of aDNA sequences however, is their short sequence length. Additionally, genes for aDNA studies are often chosen by their preservation potential rather than by phylogenetically informative content. This poses potential challenges regarding their analyses, and might result in an inaccurate reflection of the supposed phylogenetic history of the sequence or organism under study. In this paper some fundamental problems of phylogenetic analysis and interpretation of aDNA datasets are discussed. Suggestions for character sampling and treatment of missing data are made. The publication is the result of a talk from the 1st PAMINSA Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, July 2005.

Syphilis is a sexually or congenitally transmitted infectious disease with an impact on the health of human populations that has undergone important cycles in different countries and periods of history. Its presence was first diagnosed in Europe in the late XIV century. In Portugal, although there are various written records of the infection in the last centuries, there are rare references to it in archeological findings (mummified bodies are also rare in Portugal). The current study describes a probable case of congenital syphilis in an 18-month-old girl buried in the Church of the Sacrament in Lisbon. Her body, dating to the XVIII century, was found mummified together with dozens of others, still not studied. Symmetrical periostitis of the long bones, osteitis, metaphyseal lesions, left knee articular, and epiphyseal destruction, and a rarefied lesion with a radiological appearance compatible with Wimberger's sign all point to a diagnosis of congenital syphilis. The diagnosis of this severe form of the infection, possibly related to the cause of death in this upper-class girl, calls attention to the disease's presence in XVIII century Lisbon and is consistent with the intense mobilization at the time in relation to the risks posed by so-called heredosyphilis. It is the first case of congenital syphilis in a child reported in archeological findings in Portugal, and can be correlated with other cases in skeletons of adults buried in cemeteries in Lisbon (in the XVI to XVIII centuries) and Coimbra (XIX century). Finally, this finding highlights the need to study the entire series of mummified bodies in the Church of the Sacrament in order to compare the paleopathological findings and existing historical documents on syphilis, so as to expand the paleoepidemiological knowledge of this infection in XVIII century Lisbon.

O objetivo do presente estudo foi descrever um grupo de lesões causadas por enredamento em Sotalia fluviatilis capturado acidentalmente por rede de pesca em 23 de julho de 1995 no Norte do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (21º37'S-041º01'W), Sudeste do Brasil. O espécime apresentou lesões laceradas na pele e no tecido subcutâneo ao redor da extremidade posterior do rostro. Fios de náilon foram encontrados associados às lesões. Lesões ósseas e nos dentes foram também observadas na área subjacente e afetaram as maxilas, pré-maxilas e mandíbulas. As lesões provavelmente foram causadas por enredamento não-letal em aparelho de pesca. Anomalias no padrão de camadas de crescimento dos dentes lesados, entre a terceira e a sexta camada, sugerem que esta lesão ocorreu aos três anos de idade. Os dados indicam que encontros não-letais com redes de pesca podem causar sérios problemas de saúde em pequenos cetáceos. Esta é a primeira descrição de lesão crônica em S. fluviatilis relacionada a pescarias.

The objective of the present study was to describe a set of lesions caused by entanglement of Sotalia fluviatilis accidentally captured by gillnet on July, 23, 1995, in the Northern Rio de Janeiro State (21º37'S-041º01'W), Southeastern of Brazil. The specimen presented lacerated lesions of the skin and subcutaneous tissue around the posterior extremity of the rostrum. Nylon twines were found associated to these lesions. Bone and teeth lesions were also observed in the underlying area and affected the maxillaries, pre-maxillaries and mandibles. The lesions were likely caused by non-lethal entanglement in fishing gears. Abnormalities in the growth layer pattern of the damaged teeth between the third and sixth growth layers suggest that this encounter had taken place when the specimen was around three years old. The data indicate that non-lethal encounters with fishing gears may cause serious health problems to small cetaceans and reduce their lifetime. This is the first description of fisheries-related chronic lesions in S. fluviatilis.