Vitamin D deficiency now visible after cremation

VUB-researchers identify for the first time interglobular dentine in cremated human teeth. The cremation process destroys a lot of information that can usually be obtained from the human skeleton. Especially diseases are difficult to observe. This has caused a paucity in our knowledge of the disease load in populations that practiced cremation as their main funerary ritual. Dr. Barbara Veselka and Prof. Christophe Snoeck, of the Brussels Bioarchaeology Lab and research groups MARI and AMGC for the first time have detected vitamin D deficiency in cremated human remains.The study was published in the renowned academic journal Scientific Reports. Dr. Barbara Veselka: "The results from our study represent a major step forward in the fields of biological anthropology, archaeology, and palaeopathology by opening up a variety of new possibilities for the study of health and activities related to sunlight exposure of numerous past populations that practiced cremation as their funerary ritual." Burning experiments. As part of the Brussels Bioarchaeology Lab and the MARI and AMGC research groups, Dr. Barbara Veselka and Prof. Christophe Snoeck conducted burning experiments using an archaeological sample of 17 paired teeth.