A. Pasini et al. / World Neurosurgery
The skeleton of a medieval pregnant woman who gave birth in the tomb, after “neurosurgery”
Progesterone, estrogen and testosterone can be detected in skeletons over 1000 years old, offering a way to identify individuals who died during pregnancy or shortly after birth.
Scientists are getting closer to creating a pregnancy test for women who lived hundreds or even thousands of years ago.
For the first time, levels of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone in skeletal remains of women dating between the 1st century and the 19th century AD — some of whom were buried with fetuses.
The findings, in the November issue of Journal of Archaeological Scienceshow that ancient bones and teeth preserve clear traces of certain sex hormones, which could help identify which individuals at archaeological sites were pregnant or had just given birth when they died.
“This method has the potential to revolutionize the way we study the reproductive histories of ancient populations. I’m truly excited,” the study’s corresponding author told . Aimee Barlowfrom the University of Sheffield, in the United Kingdom.
Pregnancy is difficult to identify in ancient individuals, especially if the fetus did not yet have a visible skeleton. Even second and third trimester fetuses may be ignored, as their bones may resemble those of the mother’s hands — as they are often placed on the abdomen during burial.
Modern pregnancy tests measure levels of hormones such as hCG in the blood or urine. However, hCG degrades quickly, leaving little trace of its presence in the body.
A progesterone, estrogen and testosteronehowever, can remain in the tissues for more time. Recent research shows that these hormones can be found in people’s blood, saliva and hair.
As New Scientist details, to assess the potential for detecting ancient pregnancies, Barlow and his colleagues collected fragments of ribs and a neck bone from two men and seven women buried in four English cemeteries. They also collected teeth from these people, as well as those from a third man.
Two of the women had confirmed fetal remains in their abdomens, and two others were buried with newborn babies. The sexes of the remaining people were determined through DNA analysis.
The team reduced each sample to powder and used chemicals and other techniques to isolate any steroid hormones. Laboratory tests then determined the amount of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone present in each of the 74 samples.
Estrogen only appeared in four samples, without a clear pattern — possibly because it degrades more quickly than progesterone and testosterone, and may not preserve well in tissues.
A progesterone, however, appeared especially elevated in the vertebra of a young woman who died carrying a full-term fetus between the 11th and 14th centuries.
The other woman from the third trimester, buried in the 18th or 19th centuries, had high progesterone on the rib.
Moderate levels of progesterone also appeared in dental plaque of the two women buried with babies in the 5th or 6th centuries.
Remarkably, these four women had no traces of testosterone in their bones or anywhere in their teeth — although one of them, buried with a premature baby, had a small amount in her dental plaque.
In contrast, the three women not associated with fetuses or babies, buried in a cemetery dating between the 8th and 12th centuries and in a tomb from Roman times, had testosterone in their ribs and in all layers of their teeth.
“The absence of testosterone indicates a recent or ongoing pregnancy at the time of death,” Barlow said.
“These techniques could be used to detect pregnancy in skeletal remains more reliably, thus providing us with more accurate insights into pregnancy in Antiquity,” Alexander Comninos, from Imperial College London, who was not part of the research, told New Scientist.
