December 2011, Daily News

Close Encounters of the Ancient Kind

Mon, Jan 09, 2012

Comparatively few people are privileged to get within a foot or two of the physical remains (actual or cast) of ancient or historic human ancestors......at least, not without the necessary scientific credentials and sanctions reserved exclusively for the scientists who are responsible for examining and studying them. The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, however, has made it possible for the interested public to approach and position their eyes within inches of some of the most significant skeletal, fossil, and mummified finds of the past two centuries.  

Here is a sampling of a tour specially tailored and undertaken by the writer in January, 2012: 

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Stop No. 1: The Hall of Human Origins

It is a small, inconsequential case tucked almost secretively against a back wall. But it contains a rare cast of a cranium of an early human that may, according to scientists, lay at the root of the genus that eventually led to modern humans. 

In 2010 a scientific team led by Dr. Lee Berger of the University of the Witwatersrand, after working in the Malapa caves in South Africa, announced the discovery of two well-preserved fossil skeletons thought to belong to a new species of early human, Australopithecus sediba (pictured right, the exhibited cranium of Malapa hominid 1, or "MH1"). Three different dating techniques indicated that the fossils were about 1.9 million years old. The skeletons showed a surprising and unique combination of features, including a small brain and long arms typical of Australopithecus (an ape-like genus suggested by scientists to be ancestral to humans), along with small human-like teeth, long legs, and hip bones more like those of our genus. According to the researchers, the two skeletons could possibly reflect the beginning of a lineage leading to Homo sapiens (modern humans), however, less complete fossil assemblages from eastern Africa suggest that the genus homo had an earlier start more than 2.3 million years ago. Much more is left to be discovered and recovered in ongoing excavations at the Malapa caves. Fossil casts of the two skeletons were donated to the Smithsonian Institution by the government of the Republic of South Africa and Dr. Berger in February, 2011. 

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Lee Berger with the partial skeleton of Australopithecus sediba. Casts of the skeleton were given to the Smithsonian in February, 2011. Photo by Brett Eloff, courtesy Lee Berger and the University of the Witwatersrand. Wikimedia Commons

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Stop No. 2

Just steps away from the case that contains the Australopithecus sediba skull sits another, much larger case. In it rests a collection of horizontally oriented fossilized human bones, each bone or bone fragment carefully separated and spaced, lying in a designated hold, like chocolate candies in a gift box. Because these fossils are so precious, the museum experts used state-of-the-art conservation techniques. The case is climate controlled, sealed with an airtight lid. Each delicate bone or fragment is individually supported by acid-free materials. These fossils are not casts. They are the originals.

Discovered in 1957 in Shanidar Cave, Iraq, the bones represent a single Neanderthal individual who lived between 60,000 and 80,000 years BP. Between 1953 and 1960, the skeletons of 7 other adults and 2 infants were also excavated in the same cave. The fossils were discovered in sediments about 45 feet deep, along with stone tools, and archaeological evidence of purposeful burials. As such, the site yielded one of the largest samples of Neanderthal fossils found anywhere in the world, including more than 130 bones and many small fragments from just this one individual. Assembling them into a single skeleton, therefore, was like putting together a giant jigsaw puzzle.

There are obviously no written documents that will tell us who this person was and how the person ended up in Shanidar Cave. But studies of the individual's bones revealed a combination of features that begin to tell the story about this person's life. Scientists estimate that the individual was about 1.69 meters or 5 feet 6 inches tall. The strong wear along with other age-related changes in the hip bone and microscopic studies of bone tissue show that the person was at least 40 years old. The large size of the bones and joints are typical of Neanderthal males, who were usually larger than females. The elbow bone is the largest of its kind known in any Neanderthal. He suffered from arthritis, based on an arthritic formation on his right ankle joint. The raised area on his upper arm bone along with the overall thickness of the bones show that strong shoulder and chest muscles put a lot of stress on his arm bones. This indicates that this Neanderthal led an active life of hunting and gathering food. The crowns of his teeth are well worn and one of the molar teeth contains starch grains indicating that he ate plants. Chemical analysis of the bones also points to a plant diet. Finally, and perhaps most intriguing, a partially healed wound on his 9^th left rib and the depth of the cut indicate that a sharp instrument entered his chest (see detailed views pictured above, right, from CBSNews.com). This may be evidence of the oldest know homicide or attempted homicide encountered in the fossil record. He may have been buried by members of his group or by a rock fall from the cave roof. 

View of Shanidar Cave, Iraq. JosephV, Wikimedia Commons

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Stop No. 3: Eternal Life in Ancient Egypt

Walking one level up and down a hallway one comes to a series of cases that exhibit items related to what the museum experts have learned about Egyptian burial practices, health, disease, and demographics from studying mummies. Ancient Egyptians believed that a person’s soul and life-force, or ba and ka, left the body at death. The ba and ka reunited with the body in the tomb, and the deceased would live forever in the afterworld.  It was mummification that ensured that the body remained as whole as possible for the afterlife journey ahead. 

Three of the cases contained mummies, one each. These are real mummies, not replications.

The first case contains the mummified body of a man who died about 2,200 years ago. Thanks to tissue and hair analysis and CAT scanning by museum scientists, we now know something about his life. Their studies showed that the deceased ate little meat, and that his lungs contained soot, probably inhaled while tending fires. Also, some internal organs remained intact, indicating that this mummy did not receive the deluxe embalming given other Egyptians. 

The second case contains another adult male mummy (300 BC – 150 AD). However, when this mummy arrived at the museum, it was already partially unwrapped and little was known about its history or the individual inside. But by using 2D and 3D CT scans, museum scientists found the brain and major organs removed and rolls of linen fitted into the abdominal cavity in place of the removed organs. This type of mummification indicates that the deceased was a member of the upper class. The arms of the mummy were crossed, a practice typical of mummification beginning about 500 BC. (See video of the CT scan, below)

The third case contains the mummy of a small boy (300 BC - 150 AD). Enough of the genitalia remained to show that this was definitely a male child. This mummy differed from the other three in that the original embalmers preserved the boy’s body by simply shrouding it in a sheet of linen instead of elaborate layers of fabric strips. This is more typical of a commoner's burial, and therefore the boy must have been a member of a poorer class. The arms at the side and chin on the chest reflect mummification practices from about 2,000 years ago. Peering down at the small mummy, it is difficult not to think about the intense sorrow that his parents must have felt at his death, a life cut dramatically short of its potential.

As was done with this mummy, scientists can examine mummies’ carefully preserved bodies with the same noninvasive imaging techniques used to diagnose medical problems in modern patients using  X-ray radiography and computerized tomography, or CT scans. 3DSmithsonianDigi  InVesalius, Geomagic 12, 3D Studio Max

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Stop No. 4: Written in Bone: Forensic Files of the 17th Century Chesapeake

Walking only a few feet from the Egyptian mummies, one fast forwards about 2,000 years and encounters an extensive exhibit that features archaeological discoveries, focusing on recovered skeletal remains of settlers of historic 17th century Jamestown, Virgina and at sites in Maryland. 

The first notable case contains a complete skeleton carefully laid out in dim light (pictured right). The skeleton was excavated in 2002 when archaeologists uncovered an isolated grave just outside the archaeological footprint of the palisade walls of James Fort, built by the early English colonists in 1607 on what is today Jamestown island in the James River. It is considered the site of the first permanent English colony in North America. Who was this person? The discovery mystified the investigators. Unlike most of the other early fort burials, this one showed evidence of a coffin. The grave shaft was carefully dug. It was located outside of and parallel to the line of the west palisade near a gate that opened to what was probably the colony's parade ground. It was clearly not a typical church cemetery burial. Smithsonian Institution forensic anthropologists joined ranks with archaeologists from Preservation Virginia, who were excavating the site where the fort once stood. They recorded data on the skeleton in the field and removed the bones to the archaeological lab at Jamestown. 

Analysis of the coffin remains (such as the location and spatial relationships of coffin nails) indicated that the man had been buried in a gabled coffin. Gabled coffins were usually reserved for individuals of relatively high status. The gabled coffin and captain’s staff next to the skeleton thus indicated that the colonists who buried this man held him in high regard. Archaeological analysis of artifacts found in a later pit that cut into the upper half of the grave shaft revealed that this burial took place before 1630 and was forgotten by that time. 

Skeletal examination identified the remains as those of a European male about 5 feet 3 inches tall and 30 to 36 years old. Though his remains were well preserved, the cause of death was not apparent in the skeleton. Archaeologists suggest that, based on archaeological analysis and the historical record, the skeleton likely belongs to none other than Bartholomew Gosnold, an English lawyer, explorer, and privateer, instrumental in founding the Virginia Company of London, and Jamestown, Virginia, United States. He is considered by Preservation Virginia to be the "prime mover of the colonization of Virginia." 

A second case, just a few feet away, contains another skeleton that was discovered inside the fort along the western palisade wall. This is the skeleton of a male, 14 – 15 years old, with a small stone arrowpoint located near the left leg, evidence of a serious infection in the jaw, and a broken right collar bone.

Clues in the burial tell a tense story. Archaeological analysis indicated the burial took place during the first weeks or months of settlement of Jamestown. Two prominent colonists, Captain John Smith and Captain Gabriel Archer, wrote that a young Englishman died during an Indian attack in 1607, only two weeks after they landed on the island. Forensic analysis suggested the likelihood of a violent death, or, at least, death caused by the massive infection of the jaw. The boy was buried hastily inside the west palisade, as evidenced by a poorly dug grave that was also too short for his body. Were the grave diggers fearful of an Indian attack? Moreover, the lack of European artifacts in the soil surrounding the skeleton further indicated that the burial took place during the settlement’s first weeks or months. Was this the young Englishman who died during the Indian attack in 1607, as documented by Smith and Archer? We may never know for sure, but the bones nevertheless reveal the story of a short life ended by violence, a story that is representative of the hard lives and times of many of the first English colonists of North America.

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These exhibits and more can be found at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, located in Washington, D.C.  Information and images about the exhibits can also be found at the website at http://www.mnh.si.edu/.

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Cover Photo, Top Left: Composite of view of Smithsonian (photographed by author), and Australopithecus cranium on exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, courtesy Brett Eloff, Lee Berger and Wits University. 

Photo, Second From Top, Right: The cranium of Malapa hominid 1 (MH1) from South Africa, named "Karabo". The combined fossil remains of this juvenile male is designated as the holotype for Australopithecus sediba. Photo by Brett Eloff. Courtesy Profberger and Wits University, Wikimedia Commons