Analysis of 8000-year-old brain tissue from the Windover site • 69 



Bodies, however, can also be preserved in hot, dry en- 

 vironments through accidental or intentional exploitation of 

 natural desiccation. In these instances, the climate must be 

 dry enough that dehydration of the bodies is rapid. Further- 

 more, dry conditions must persist up to the time of discovery. 

 Examples of this type of preservation are found in predynas- 

 tic Egypt (before 2686 B.C.) (Smith 1902), Peru (Vrceland 

 and Cockbum 1980), the American Southwest (El-Najjarand 

 Mulinski 1980), Australia (Pretty and Calder 1980)and other 

 areas (Ascenzi et al. 1980). 



Other mummified or frozen remains have been found in 

 cold environments ranging from the high-altitude desert en- 

 vironments of Peru and northern Asia to the arctic areas of 

 Alaska and Greenland (Artamonov 1965; Zimmerman and 

 Smith 1975; Hansen et al. 1985; Dekin 1987). Under these 

 conditions dehydration may have taken place by sublimation 

 of body moisture (Vreeland and Cockbum 1980). The bone 

 and soft tissue in these samples are frequently in an excellent 

 state of preservation (Vreeland and Cockbum 1980; Hansen 

 etal. 1985). 



A variety of aqueous environments have yielded preserved 

 tissue. The highly acidic (pH < 4) peat bogs of northern 

 Europe have produced human remains with a remarkable 

 amount of tissue preservation (Glob 1969; Fischer 1980). 

 Skin and hair are intact (essentially tanned), intemal organ 

 preservation is less predictable, and bone is usually highly 

 demineralized; less acidic conditions yield better preserved 

 bone (Glob 1969). 



Ancient human remains from damp environments or non- 

 acidic, water-saturated environments like Windover are 

 rarer, but have occurred. Human skulls containing the appar- 

 ent remnants of brain tissue were found earlier at several 

 Florida sites (Royal and Clark 1960; Dailey et al. 1972; 

 Clausen etal. 1979; Beriault etal. 1981). A Danish medieval 

 cemetery yielded 56 of 74 skulls with brain material; like the 

 Windover site no other soft tissue was preserved (Tkocz et al . 

 1979). Most of the bog bodies of northern Europe are from 

 acidic environments but some are found under less acidic 

 conditions (pH 5-7.5), and in these cases the body is found 

 as skeleton or adipocere (Fischer 1980). 



Upon comparing descriptions of preserved tissue found at 

 other archeological or forensic sites with the material found 

 at Windover, we note that specimens and locations most 

 similar to Windover came from sites where adipocere forma- 

 tion occurred. AdiptKcre (also known as "grave wax") is a 

 mixture of free fatty acids, primarily palmitic acid, and soaps 

 resulting from the postmortem hydrolysis and hydrogenation 

 of fats present in naturally occurring fat tissue in the body 

 (Mant 1957;Zivanovic 1982:18-19). Damp conditions, fat- 

 ty tissue, electrolytes (which may come from body fluids), 

 and some putrification (to initiate hydrolysis) must be present 

 for adipocere formation to occur (Mant 1957). Apparently at 

 Windover, burial practices and physical and chemical condi- 

 tions allowed putrification to begin but the process was 



halted before complete decomposition of brain tissue oc- 

 curred. 



The conditions at Windover that appear most likely to 

 enhance tissue preservation by inhibiting bacterial growth 

 are the high sulfur levels in water and peat, the high amounts 

 of minerals present in the water, and the anaerobic conditions 

 which begin 30 cm below the peat surface. DNA within the 

 tissue was preserved owing to at least two other factors: first, 

 waterat Windover is nearly neutral (pH 5.3-6.8), particular- 

 ly in the red-brown peat stratum; second, the anaerobic prop- 

 erty of the water limits oxidative DNA damage. Thus, DNA 

 alteration due to acid depurination. deamination. and oxida- 

 tion was minimized. Interestingly, a low temperature may 

 not have been a factor in DNA preservation since modem 

 subsurface ground water temperatures are around 23°C. Al- 

 though DNA has been isolated from tissues preserved 

 through rapid drying (Paabo 1985; Higuchi et al. 1984; 

 Rogers and Bendich 1985; Johnson et al. 1985), the present 

 results show that tissues recovered from water-saturated en- 

 vironments under conditions of anaerobia, neutral pH, and 

 high ion levels also yield preserved DNA. 



In an archeological setting, DNA survival not only in- 

 cludes chemical factors but also ethnological practices that 

 may act to influence burial conditions and, thus, rate of tissue 

 decomposition and DNA survival. Individual differences in 

 tissue integrity may reflect variations in either burial environ- 

 ment or the interval and conditions which prevailed between 

 death and interment, or both. Windover skeletal material 

 buried along the deeper edge of the pond was well preserved, 

 but was disarticulated and appears to have been slowly trans- 

 ported down slope. Burials in the more shallow edge of the 

 pond, found in the third and final field season, were articu- 

 lated but poorly preserved. There is no indication of second- 

 ary burial at Windover, although the practice was widespread 

 in later New World populations (Ubelaker 1974; O'Shea 

 1984; Churcher and Kenyon I960). The interment pattcm 

 resembles Floridian aquatic burial practices occurring both 

 earlier and later than the Windover site, possibly reflecting a 

 long-term or recurring religious theme in Florida (Royal and 

 Clark I960; Clausen etal. 1975; Beriault et al. 1981; Whar- 

 ton etal. 1981; Sears 1982). It is clear that rapid interment is a 

 necessary factor in tissue preservation in environments pro- 

 moting rapid decomposition. Preservation may also reflect 

 sex- and age-specific burial patterns. However, at Windover, 

 brain material has been recovered from infants, adolescents, 

 young and older adults representing both sexes, thus indicat- 

 ing little status distinction in burial pattems. Agreement be- 

 tween the ages of the peat surrounding the skeletal material 

 and the bone itself also suggests primary burials in shallow 

 graves. There are some indications that the bodies may have 

 been deposited in water deep enough to require pointed "hold 

 down" stakes and stakes of unmodified wood. We suggest, 

 therefore, that in temperate latitudes of the New World, 

 rapid, simple burial practices in an anaerobic, water- 



Zagrrb Puleopalhology Symp. 1988 



