Papers by Michael Schultz
Tuberculosis, 2015
Two mummies of the Hungarian mummy collection from Vác were the subjects of anthropological, pale... more Two mummies of the Hungarian mummy collection from Vác were the subjects of anthropological, paleopathological, radiological, paleomicrobiological, paleohistological and paleoproteomic studies. Both individuals belonged to the same family. The father, József Nigrovits (No 29), died at the age of 55 on the 11 th of November 1793; his son, Antal Nigrovits (No 54), died on the 16 th of July 1803, at the age of 22. They lived in the 18 th century in Vác, a small town in northern Hungary. The macroscopic examination of the son showed a severely deformed neck and back region; the father has no visible mark of any illnesses. As earlier researches showed that tuberculosis was widespread in the community, the etiology of these deformities were examined. The paleomicrobiological results found both individuals were infected with tuberculosis. Although they suffered from TB, the CT scan data of the bodies and their 3D reconstructions showed no skeletal evidence of tuberculosis. The deformity of the son turned to be a developmental abnormality of unknown origin, but no Pott's gibbus was present.
Biological Chemistry, 2005
For the first time we have extracted, solubilized and identified growth factors, such as insulin ... more For the first time we have extracted, solubilized and identified growth factors, such as insulin growth factor II (IGF-II), bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2), and transforming growth factor-b (TGF-b), from archaeological compact human bone and tooth dentin dating from the late pre-ceramic pottery Neolithic (late PPNB) and the early Middle Ages. These factors are typical of special physiological or pathological situations in the metabolism of bone. The extracellular matrix proteins from bone and teeth of individuals from the late PPNB and early Middle Ages were separated by 2-D electrophoresis and more than 300 different protein spots were detected by silver staining. The matrix protein patterns of compact bone and tooth from the same individual (early Middle Ages) are very different and only 16% of the protein spots were detected in both compact bone and tooth dentin.
Acta Biologica …, 2009
According to our current knowledge, tumors are the same age as mankind itself. The prevalence of ... more According to our current knowledge, tumors are the same age as mankind itself. The prevalence of tumorous diseases, however, was seemingly relatively low in the past and apparently increased dramatically in modern times. This theory is based on scattered case studies. However, the majority of these investigations were not carried out using modern diagnostic techniques. The scarcity of data concerning the antiquity of cancer demands new investigations in this field. Future paleopathological discoveries and the application of improved diagnostic techniques may enable "paleo-oncology" to make further contributions to our understanding of cancer. In this study, we present data on the occurrence of malignant bone tumors in 12 anthropological series (3967 individuals) from Hungary dated to the 3 rd-16 th centuries AD. All skeletons were subjected to a careful macroscopic investigation, complemented by radiological examination and in special case scanning electron-microscopic and histological analyses, too. We identified 13 cases of malignant bone tumors. In most instances, multiple osteolytic lesions with slight osteoblastic reactions, in characteristic skeletal distributions, were strongly suggestive of metastatic carcinoma. However, in some cases multiple myeloma cannot be excluded. A mature male with pronounced osteoblastic reactions, particularly on the hip bones, seemed to be most compatible with the diagnosis metastatic prostate cancer. These observations indicate that carcinomas were present in human populations living on the territory of present-day Hungary over the last two millennia.
American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2000
The potential and reliability of DNA analysis for the identification of human remains are demonst... more The potential and reliability of DNA analysis for the identification of human remains are demonstrated by the study of a recent bone sample, which represented a documented case of sickle cell anemia. -globin gene sequences obtained from the specimen revealed homozygosity for the sickle cell mutation, proving the authenticity of the retrieved residual DNA. Further investigation of mitochondrial and Y chromosome DNA polymorphic markers indicated that this sample came from a male of maternal West African (possibly Yoruban) and paternal Bantu lineages. The medical record, which became available after the DNA analyses had been completed, revealed that it belonged to a Jamaican black male. These findings are consistent with this individual being a descendent of Africans brought to Jamaica during the transAtlantic slave trade. This study exemplifies how a ''reverse population genetics'' approach can be applied to reconstruct a genetic profile from a bone specimen of an unknown individual.
PalZ, 2021
In an exceptional preservation state, bones conserve the entire pattern of extracellular bone mat... more In an exceptional preservation state, bones conserve the entire pattern of extracellular bone matrix proteins over thousands or sometimes even millions of years. Here we present typical extracellular bone matrix proteins, which were extracted from a 3.0-million-year-old gomphothere proboscidean, and identified with special antibodies. For the first time, osteonectin, osteopontin and BMP-2 were confidently identified from the extinct Anancus arvernensis, based on late Pliocene material from Willershausen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Our study has value in demonstrating that the longevity of original extracellular bone matrix proteins is much greater than formerly expected, and that such materials may be stabilised for distinct geological periods of time, especially in Fossil Lagerstätten.
Anthropologie, 2005
Menschliche Skelettfunde repräsentieren biohistorische Urkunden, die über die Ätiologie und Epide... more Menschliche Skelettfunde repräsentieren biohistorische Urkunden, die über die Ätiologie und Epidemiologie von Erkrankungen informieren und zusätzlich über bestimmte äußere Lebensbedingungen-wie Ernährung, Wohn-und Arbeitsverhältnisse, geographische und klimatische Faktoren sowie sanitäre und hygienische Gegebenheiten Auskunft geben (Schultz 1982). Bis in die heutige Zeit wurden an paläoanthropologischen Funden pathologische Untersuchungen nur sporadisch durchgeführt. Daher wurde das relativ gut erhaltene Skelett des paläolithischen Individuums von Brno II unter Einsatz makroskopischer, endoskopischer und röntgenologischer Techniken untersucht. Alle untersuchten Knochen (linkes Schlüsselbein, rechter Oberarmknochen und Elle, rechter und linker Oberschenkelknochen) sind durch eine poröse und grob-strähnige äußere Oberfläche charakterisiert, die an der rechten Elle und an beiden Oberschenkelknochen sekundäre, intravitale Knochenneubildungen aufweist. Die endoskopische und röntgenologische Untersuchung ergab sklerotische Veränderungen im Bereich der Markröhren der Langknochen, die durch eine unregelmäßige Verfüllung von sekundär gebildeten Spongiosatrabekeln verursacht wurde. Zusätzlich ist die kompakte Knochensubstanz (Cortex) durch Spuren eines relativ schwach ausgebildeten Resorptionsprozesses (Osteoklasie) verändert worden. Bisher konnte keine zuverlässige Diagnose gestellt werden. Auch die Ätiologie der Erkrankung ist unbekannt. Als Ursache werden ein tumoröser oder auch ein entzündlicher Prozess unbekannter Genese sowie eine spezielle Form der Osteomyelosklerose diskutiert. Für die nächste Zukunft sind licht-und rasterelektronenmikroskopische sowie biochemische Untersuchungen geplant, die eine zuverlässige Diagnose ermöglichen sollten.
Turbulence measurements for a zero pressure gradient boundary layer over a twodimensional roughne... more Turbulence measurements for a zero pressure gradient boundary layer over a twodimensional roughness are presented and compared to previous results for a smooth wall and a three-dimensional roughness (Volino, Schultz & Flack, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 592, 2007, p. 263). The present experiments were made on transverse square bars in the fully rough flow regime. The turbulence structure was documented through the fluctuating velocity components, two-point correlations of the fluctuating velocity and swirl strength and linear stochastic estimation conditioned on the swirl and Reynolds shear stress. The two-dimensional bars lead to significant changes in the turbulence in the outer flow. Reynolds stresses, particularly v 2 + and −u v + , increase, although the mean flow is not as significantly affected. Large-scale turbulent motions originating at the wall lead to increased spatial scales in the outer flow. The dominant feature of the outer flow, however, remains hairpin vortex packets which have similar inclination angles for all wall conditions. The differences between boundary layers over twodimensional and three-dimensional roughness are attributable to the scales of the motion induced by each type of roughness. This study has shown three-dimensional roughness produces turbulence scales of the order of the roughness height k while the motions generated by two-dimensional roughness may be much larger due to the width of the roughness elements. It is also noted that there are fundamental differences in the response of internal and external flows to strong wall perturbations, with internal flows being less sensitive to roughness effects.
Virchows Archiv A Pathological Anatomy and Histology, 1978
International Journal of Paleopathology, 2014
This study analyses changes in the region of the oval window suggestive of stapedial footplate fi... more This study analyses changes in the region of the oval window suggestive of stapedial footplate fixation in archaeological human skeletal remains. We endoscopically investigated 621 temporal bones of 385 individuals from five medieval sites in Germany to identify fixations of the stapedial footplate. For differential diagnosis, four cases suspicious of representing stapes fixation or remnants of the fixed footplate were further investigated using microscopic techniques (brightfield and darkfield imaging, phase-contrast microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, CLSM, SEM-BSE imaging), and EDX-analysis, either alone or in combination. Our findings suggest that only two of the four cases represented an intravital fixation of the stapedial footplate. The first case was diagnosed as caused by sclerosis of the annular ligament, the second cases as representing an example of congenital footplate fixation. In a third case, structures that were initially diagnosed as remnants of the footplate were shown to be soil particles. In the fourth case the structures attached to the oval window were identified as apatitic deposits formed by diagenetic agents. Our findings highlight the need for microscopic analyses to distinguish intravital from postmortem changes in the region of the oval window and the differential diagnosis of intravital footplate fixations.
Handbook of Paleoanthropology, 2014
The Lancet, 1998
Recognition of neoplasia in antiquity is compromised by the substrate available for examination. ... more Recognition of neoplasia in antiquity is compromised by the substrate available for examination. Since study is limited to the skeleton (with the rare exception of mummies), confident diagnosis of tumours has been rarely possible beyond the Cenozoic age. The exceptions have been osteomas in mosasaurs, growths of unclear origin in dinosaurs 1, 2 and, now, haemangiomas.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Jan 20, 2011
Pastoral nomadism, as a successful economic and social system drawing on mobile herding, long-dis... more Pastoral nomadism, as a successful economic and social system drawing on mobile herding, long-distance trade, and cavalry warfare, affected all polities of the Eurasian continent. The role that arid Inner Asia, particularly the areas of northwestern China, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia, played in the emergence of this phenomenon remains a fundamental and still challenging question in prehistoric archaeology of the Eurasian steppes. The cemetery of Liushiu (Xinjiang, China) reveals burial features, bronze bridle bits, weaponry, adornment, horse skulls, and sheep/goat bones, which, together with paleopathological changes in human skeletons, indicate the presence of mobile pastoralists and their flocks at summer pastures in the Kunlun Mountains, ∼2,850 m above sea level. Radiocarbon dates place the onset of the burial activity between 1108 and 893 B.C. (95% probability range) or most likely between 1017 and 926 B.C. (68%). These data from the Kunlun Mountains show a wider frontier within th...
American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2008
Xcambó is a Classic period Maya site (250-700 AD) situated on the northern coast of Yucatan, Mexi... more Xcambó is a Classic period Maya site (250-700 AD) situated on the northern coast of Yucatan, Mexico. Archaeological evidence suggests that the site began as a salt production center but adopted a more administrative role as a commercial port in the Late Classic period. Economic growth, depending on its magnitude, could have affected the daily occupations of Xcambó's inhabitants. However, this is difficult to infer from the archaeological record. The aim of this study was to directly evaluate this possibility through skeletal analysis. Since diaphyseal robusticity and shape are predominantly influenced by mechanical loading history, long bone cross-sections can be used to access activity patterns. To this end, humeri and femora of 47 male and 35 female adult specimens from two Xcambó population samples were scrutinized. Our
American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2009
Mastoid hypocellularity is frequently used as an indicator of chronic otits media in paleopatholo... more Mastoid hypocellularity is frequently used as an indicator of chronic otits media in paleopathological investigations. The condition can be caused by a poor development of air cells during infancy and early childhood (primary hypocellularity) or by obliteration of air cells with bone during later life (secondary hypocellularity). We performed a macroscopic, radiographic, and microscopic study of pneumatization patterns in 151 mastoid processes of individuals from an early-medieval cemetery in Germany, with emphasis on the architecture of the nonpneumatized portion of hypocellular mastoid processes. Two types of primary mastoid hypocellularity were distinguished. The first was characterized by a poorly defined boundary between the pneumatized portion and the nonpneumatized portion and a trabecular thickening in the spongy bone of the latter. The second showed a well-defined boundary between the pneumatized portion and the nonpneumatized portion and normal spongy
American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2009
Since antibiotics have become available, mastoiditis has become a rare disease in modern Western ... more Since antibiotics have become available, mastoiditis has become a rare disease in modern Western societies. However, it is still common in developing countries. It can be hypothesized that in earlier historical and prehistoric times, mastoiditis must have posed a serious threat to people's lives, and that the prevalence of this disease is probably underrepresented in the paleopathological literature. The present study identifies pathological changes in the pneumatized cells of the mastoid process in human skeletal samples from two early medieval cemeteries from Germany (Dirmstein: n 5 152 mastoids, Rhens: n 5 71 mastoids), using macroscopic, endoscopic, low-power microscopic, scanningelectron and light microscopic techniques, and draws some epidemiological conclusions as to the frequency of the disease diagnosed in the archaeological samples.
American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2003
This paper reports on the results of a first computerized tomography (CT)-based study of the Midd... more This paper reports on the results of a first computerized tomography (CT)-based study of the Middle Pleistocene matrix-filled skull KNM-ES 11693 from Eliye Springs at Lake Turkana. Ectocranially, the hominid cranium exhibits a remarkable enlargement of the vault symmetrical to the sagittal suture and a porotic surface covering most of the vault. CT analysis further revealed a strong thickening of the cranial vault as well as other relevant aspects. Differential diagnosis suggests that the changes of the Eliye Springs cranium were probably caused by chronic anemia in the childhood or youth of this individual.
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Papers by Michael Schultz