Identification of bacterial isolates obtained from intestinal contents associated with 12,000-year-old mastodon remains.

ABSTRACT: Mastodon (Mammut americanum) remains unearthed during excavation of ancient sediments usually consist only of skeletal material, due to postmortem decomposition of soft tissues by microorganisms. Two recent excavations of skeletal remains in anoxic sediments in Ohio and Michigan, however, have uncovered organic masses which appear to be remnants of the small and large intestines, respectively. Macrobotanical examinations of the composition of these masses revealed assemblages of plant material radiocarbon dated to approximately 11,500 years before the present and thought to be incompletely digested food remains from this extinct mammal. We attempted to cultivate and identify bacteria from the intestinal contents, bone-associated sediments, and sediments not in proximity to the remains usin

SUBMITTER: Rhodes AN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC106097 | biostudies-literature | 1998 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature