Taphonomic considerations of a whipworm infection in a mummy from the Dominican Church of the Holy Spirit, Vilnius, Lithuania

Parasitology in an archaeological context: analysis of medieval burials in Nivelles, Belgium

“…The collections of these types of data are relevant to future reconstructions of diet, medicinal plant use, seasonality of death, and other aspects of pathoecology (Ferreira et al, 1983;Jones, 1985;Reinhard et al, 1986;Aspöck et al, 1996;Bouchet et al, 2003;Gonçalves et al, 2003;Santoro et al, 2003;Le Bailly et al, 2006;Fisher et al, 2007;Arriaza et al, 2010;Kumm et al, 2010;Araújo et al, 2011;Bartošová et al, 2011;Brinkkemper and van Haaster, 2012;Florenzano et al, 2012;Jiménez et al, 2012;Reinhard et al, 2012;Reinhard and Pucu, 2013;Searcey et al, 2013;Morrow et al, 2014). However, only the relevant archaeoparasitological methods and results are detailed within this publication.…”

“…Based on the A. lumbricoides egg total (28,732 epg) found among all burials analyzed, the highest prevalence was found in Burial 122 (99%). The calculated parasite egg concentrations for all Burial 122 coprolites (T. trichiura = 1,577,679 eggs per coprolite, A. lumbricoides = 202,350 eggs per coprolite) represent the highest values (Total parasite eggs = 293,402 epg; Total Parasite eggs = 1,780,029 epc) from any archaeological human analyzed to date (Fugassa et al, 2006(Fugassa et al, , 2008Jiménez et al, 2012;Kumm et al, 2010;Martinson et al, 2003;Morrow et al, 2014;Santoro et al, 2003;Searcey et al, 2013). The epg average for T. trichiura for Burial 122 is 33,090 epg of coprolite.…”

“…Recently, a case has been made that the analysis of mummified tissue may sometimes include sections of adult whipworms (Morrow et al, 2014). Parasite eggs existing within adult uteri are immature.…”

“…Parasite eggs existing within adult uteri are immature. Morrow et al (2014) demonstrated that such eggs are deformed and do not exhibit ephemeral features such as mucoid polar plugs. Reinhard et al (1986) stated that preservation seems to be best in moist anaerobic environments or desiccating environments.…”

“…Eggs of A. lumbricoides lack any type of opercula. Both of these helminths are recurrent in the European archaeoparasitological literature (Jones, 1985;Aspöck et al, 1996;Kumm et al, 2010;Bartošová et al, 2011;Brinkkemper and van Haaster, 2012;Florenzano et al, 2012;Anastasiou and Mitchell, 2013b;Mitchell et al, 2013;Searcey et al, 2013;Reinhard and Pucu, 2013;Morrow et al, 2014).…”