Provider: Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic TY - JOUR JO - Anthropologie (Brno) TI - The Use of the Confocal Microscope in the Study of Ancient Human Bones AU - Capasso L AU - D'Anastasio R AU - Michetti E Y1 - 2001 VL - 39 IS - 2-3 PB - Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic SN - 0323-1119 SP - 181 EP - 186 KW - Confocal microscope KW - Ancient bone KW - Fluorescence N2 - N2 - The authors demonstrate that ancient human bones exhibit natural autofluorescence. The red autofluorescence appears to be typical of ancient bones and therefore must be interpreted as a phenomenon related to diagenesis. They studied 4 samples of bone: 3 samples of ancient remains (Roman and medieval bones) and 1 submodern to make a comparison. The laser scanning of the samples makes it possible to observe and record the images of the bone tissue relative to various planes below the surface of the histological specimen and to follow the three-dimensional disposition of the histological structures of the bones. The authors think that the confocal microscope could be utilised for histological and anthropological research on ancient bones. ER -