Search

Six tablets, probably an ancient collyrium, were discovered in a tin pyxis recovered during the archaeological excavation of the so-called Pozzino shipwreck found in the Baratti gulf, near Piombino (Tuscany, Italy). The tablets were previously studied from a historical point of view; micro-morphological and chemical analyses were then performed to establish their composition. In addition, the tablets were subjected to pollen investigation, which revealed the occurrence of a significant amount of pollen grains. The list of pollen morphotypes is long and suggests multiple sources for the grains. Many of the morphotypes belong to Olea; many others belong to plants which display showy flowers and are commonly visited by bees, confirming the presence of a bee product already detected by the chemical analysis. The present paper focuses on the analysis of the pollen content of the medicine and offers conclusions resulting from its study. We hypothesize that the olive pollen grains were added to the tablets together with one or more ingredients, such as pollen bread and/or oleum acerbum (an oil obtained by pressing unripened drupes and which was used in antiquity for therapeutic applications). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Waterlogged archaeological wood undergoes decay processes that depend on both the burial conditions and the constituting species, and which cause the depletion of the structural components of wood cells. To quantitatively assess the state of preservation of the decayed material, specific parameters are usually measured by means of both chemical and physical analyses. In this paper an innovative approach in the use of the data obtained from these kinds of measurements is developed. A series of 132 archaeological wood samples of different wood species, burial times and states of preservation, and coming from different sites in Italy, was analysed. Their residual chemical composition, maximum water content and basic density were measured, and a reasoned use of these parameters was carried out through their elaboration, with the aim of both evaluating eventual incongruence or anomalies in the raw physical and chemical data (which has never been accomplished so far) and directly comparing in a reliable way the analytical results obtained from archaeological samples with very different states of preservation. This approach allowed defining the effective values of chemical parameters related to wood decay according to a same reference basis of calculation among the various data. By this way, it was possible to state that lignin can be also attacked by the agents causing biotic decay, and that in hardwoods its decay is more related to the burial conditions than to the wood species. Instead, the mechanism of polysaccharide depletion is diversified: conifers showed a uniform behaviour whereas hardwoods were more species-dependent. Moreover, in addition to the chemical composition, also anatomical factors influence the carbohydrate rate of decay in waterlogged wood. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In archaeology, the discovery of ancient medicines is very rare, as is knowledge of their chemical composition. In this paper we present results combining chemical, mineralogical, and botanical investigations on the well-preserved contents of a tin pyxis discovered onboard the Pozzino shipwreck (second century B.C.). The contents consist of six flat, gray, discoid tablets that represent direct evidence of an ancient medicinal preparation. The data revealed extraordinary information on the composition of the tablets and on their possible therapeutic use. Hydrozincite and smithsonite were by far the most abundant ingredients of the Pozzino tablets, along with starch, animal and plant lipids, and pine resin. The composition and the form of the Pozzino tablets seem to indicate that they were used for ophthalmic purposes: the Latin name collyrium (eyewash) comes from the Greek name κoλλúρα, which means "small round loaves." This study provided valuable information on ancient medical and pharmaceutical practices and on the development of pharmacology and medicine over the centuries. In addition, given the current focus on natural compounds, our data could lead to new investigations and research for therapeutic care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discovery of several shipwrecks during a recent excavation of the Etruscan and Roman harbour of Pisa (Tuscany) gives a rare opportunity to investigate archaeological woods buried for centuries under wet and anoxic sediments. Botanical analysis shows evidence of a variety of species of wood that were used in these ships with respect to others reported in literature. Chemical analysis was performed on wood of two ships, C and L (I cent. A.D. and II cent. B.C., respectively), using the international standard methods of wood analysis TAPPI and other instrumental methods such as XRD, GC–MS, FT-IR. Comparison with recently cut reference wood species points to drastic degradation since the holocellulose contents are reduced to very low values and lignin contents exhibit consequently marked increases. Crystallinity evaluation of residual cellulose shows that its degradation has occurred with an ordinate mechanism. Inorganic content is very high with respect to literature: the most abundant elements are Ca, and Fe, mostly associated with sulphates; Fe is also present as amorphous oxides. Organic extractive composition and cation exchange capacity measurements give evidence of oxidative degradation of lignin. From chemical composition of wood of ships C and L, it can be inferred that the Pisan ships are degraded to a greater extent than others like the Hanse Coge, the Mayence Roman Ship and the Mary Rose reported in the literature. The collected data are also useful for the choice of consolidation and stabilisation methodologies of wet wood. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]