title: Spectrometric analysis and scanning electronic microscopy of two pleural plaques from mediaeval Portuguese period.
abstract: During an archaeological excavation at a mediaeval monastery (Flor da Rosa, Crato, Portugal), a skeleton of a adult woman was found with two calcifications in the thoracic cage. The location and the macroscopic analysis of the calcifications allowed them to be assigned as pleural plaques. Spectrometric analysis and scanning electronic microscopy enabled to establish that it originated with an infectious process. These results associated with the lesions found in the ribs and vertebrae strongly suggest tuberculosis as the cause of these pleural plaques.
authors: Departamento de Biologia, Escola de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade de Évora, 7002-554, Portugal; Centro de Investigação em Antropologia e Saúde (CIAS), Universidade de Coimbra, Apartado 3046, 3001-401 Coimbra, Portugal. Electronic address: tmf@uevora.pt.
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Fernandes
authors: Departamento de Biologia, Escola de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade de Évora, 7002-554, Portugal.
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Granja
authors: École des Hautes Étude, Section des Sciences Historiques et Philologiques, La Sorbonne, Paris, France.
authors: P L
authors: PL
authors: Thillaud
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D064347:Microscopy, Electrochemical, Scanning; D010164:Paleopathology; D010995:Pleural Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D011174:Portugal; D013057:Spectrum Analysis
keywords: Calcified soft tissue; Cemitério mediaeval português; Doença infeciosa; Infectious disease; Mediaeval Portuguese cemetery; Placas pleurais; Pleural plaques; Tecidos moles calcificados