Evidence for ancient meningiomas and a probable case from Medieval Tarbat, Scotland.

We report the case of a probable meningioma in a cranium excavated from the Medieval site of Portmahomack on the Tarbat Peninsula in Scotland (Carver, 2008). Stratigraphic evidence enabled dating of the remains to a post-Pictish and pre-Reformation date. Meningiomas usually arise from the arachnoid membrane of the meninges (Yamazaki et al., 2001) and now represent approximately 20% of all primary intracranial tumours (Yener et al., 2009). They can result in hyperostosis of adjacent bone, osteolytic reactions, or both. We review the evidence for ancient meningiomas and describe a differential diagnosis of the pathology from the Tarbat cranium, including vascular and osteoid lesions, intracerebral malignancies, metastases and other benign lesions. The cranium that we present is from an adult male, and has a frontoparietal lesion approximately 3cm in diameter, which is characterised by bone growth and remodelling of the outer table, and endocranial bone destruction. Supporting photographic and radiological evidence is presented. We conclude that a diagnosis of meningioma is most likely in this case, and may represent the rarer primary extradural meningioma.

Neanderthal medics? Evidence for food, cooking, and medicinal plants entrapped in dental calculus.

Neanderthals disappeared sometime between 30,000 and 24,000 years ago. Until recently, Neanderthals were understood to have been predominantly meat-eaters; however, a growing body of evidence suggests their diet also included plants. We present the results of a study, in which sequential thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS) and pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) were combined with morphological analysis of plant microfossils, to identify material entrapped in dental calculus from five Neanderthal individuals from the north Spanish site of El Sidrón. Our results provide the first molecular evidence for inhalation of wood-fire smoke and bitumen or oil shale and ingestion of a range of cooked plant foods. We also offer the first evidence for the use of medicinal plants by a Neanderthal individual. The varied use of plants that we have identified suggests that the Neanderthal occupants of El Sidrón had a sophisticated knowledge of their natural surroundings which included the ability to select and use certain plants.

A healed femoral fracture of Threskiornis aethiopicus (Sacred Ibis) from the Animal Cemetery at Abydos, Egypt.

The Bolton Museum and Archive Service collection holds an ibis mummy from Abydos, which was partially unwrapped at one time, extracting two femora. The left is anatomically complete, yet the right exhibits an oblique fracture that had healed at an angle of 90°. The radiographic examination shows that the fracture had completely united. The significant amount of bone remodelling suggests a period of months between the occurrence of the fracture and the death of the bird. There are two possible scenarios that can be derived from this evaluation: human intervention or a chance survival in the wild, both of which are possible, though difficult to prove with certainty.