Month: August 2021

Unique signatures

Published on by GillianLeave a comment

One of the most amazing things I love about research is that you are constantly learning, constantly exploring and driving forward understanding. I am so pleased to share a recent publication entitled Unique chemical parameters and microbial activity lead to increased archaeological preservation at the Roman frontier site of Vindolanda UK.

The paper is open access and free to read, from scientific reports and here are five reasons why you should:-

  1. Microbes are fascinating and we understand so little about how they impact on preservation on artefacts
  2. Inorganic analysis – such as metals, play a huge part in the activity of microbes and thus preservation
  3. The diversity of microbes change depending on archaeological context.. and guess what this will impact on preservation
  4. The graphs are really cool
  5. It shows we need to understand the chemical and microbiological environment to understand our management practices for the future..
Sampling the soil

New Output: Unique chemical parameters and microbial activity lead to increased archaeological preservation

Published on by GillianLeave a comment

Orr, C.H., Williams, R., Halldórsdóttir, H.H. et al. Unique chemical parameters and microbial activity lead to increased archaeological preservation at the Roman frontier site of Vindolanda, UK. Sci Rep 11, 15837 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-94853-7

Published: 04 August 2021

Abstract: Waterlogged burial conditions impact upon artefact preservation. One major determinant of preservation is presence and behaviour of microorganisms, however, unravelling the mechanisms, especially in waterlogged conditions is challenging. In this study, we analysed elemental composition, bacterial diversity and community structure from excavation trenches at the Roman Site of Vindolanda, Northumberland, UK, using pXRF and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Excavation trenches provide information of different occupation periods. The results indicated that microbial communities were dominated by Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria at a phylum level. Samples which also had visible vivianite presence showed that there were marked increases in Methylophilus. Methylophilus might be associated with favourable preservation in these anaerobic conditions. More research is needed to clearly link the presence of Methylophilus with vivianite production. The study emphasises the need for further integration of chemical and microbiome approaches, especially in good preservation areas, to explore microbial and chemical degradation mechanisms.