Unique chemical parameters and microbial activity lead to increased archaeological preservation at the Roman frontier site of Vindolanda, UK

Abstract Waterlogged burial conditions impact upon artefact preservation. One major determinant of preservation is presence and behaviour of microorganisms, however, unravelling the mechanisms, especially in waterlogged conditions is challenging. In this study, we analysed elemental composition, bac...

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Autores principales:	C. H. Orr, R. Williams, H. H. Halldórsdóttir, A. Birley, E. Greene, A. Nelson, T. K. Ralebitso-Senior, G. Taylor
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/9ae9d84e91b9433b902474eb332fdd69
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:9ae9d84e91b9433b902474eb332fdd692021-12-02T17:06:32ZUnique chemical parameters and microbial activity lead to increased archaeological preservation at the Roman frontier site of Vindolanda, UK10.1038/s41598-021-94853-72045-2322https://doaj.org/article/9ae9d84e91b9433b902474eb332fdd692021-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-94853-7https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Waterlogged burial conditions impact upon artefact preservation. One major determinant of preservation is presence and behaviour of microorganisms, however, unravelling the mechanisms, especially in waterlogged conditions is challenging. In this study, we analysed elemental composition, bacterial diversity and community structure from excavation trenches at the Roman Site of Vindolanda, Northumberland, UK, using pXRF and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Excavation trenches provide information of different occupation periods. The results indicated that microbial communities were dominated by Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria at a phylum level. Samples which also had visible vivianite presence showed that there were marked increases in Methylophilus. Methylophilus might be associated with favourable preservation in these anaerobic conditions. More research is needed to clearly link the presence of Methylophilus with vivianite production. The study emphasises the need for further integration of chemical and microbiome approaches, especially in good preservation areas, to explore microbial and chemical degradation mechanisms.C. H. OrrR. WilliamsH. H. HalldórsdóttirA. BirleyE. GreeneA. NelsonT. K. Ralebitso-SeniorG. TaylorNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q C. H. Orr R. Williams H. H. Halldórsdóttir A. Birley E. Greene A. Nelson T. K. Ralebitso-Senior G. Taylor Unique chemical parameters and microbial activity lead to increased archaeological preservation at the Roman frontier site of Vindolanda, UK
description	Abstract Waterlogged burial conditions impact upon artefact preservation. One major determinant of preservation is presence and behaviour of microorganisms, however, unravelling the mechanisms, especially in waterlogged conditions is challenging. In this study, we analysed elemental composition, bacterial diversity and community structure from excavation trenches at the Roman Site of Vindolanda, Northumberland, UK, using pXRF and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Excavation trenches provide information of different occupation periods. The results indicated that microbial communities were dominated by Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria at a phylum level. Samples which also had visible vivianite presence showed that there were marked increases in Methylophilus. Methylophilus might be associated with favourable preservation in these anaerobic conditions. More research is needed to clearly link the presence of Methylophilus with vivianite production. The study emphasises the need for further integration of chemical and microbiome approaches, especially in good preservation areas, to explore microbial and chemical degradation mechanisms.
format	article
author	C. H. Orr R. Williams H. H. Halldórsdóttir A. Birley E. Greene A. Nelson T. K. Ralebitso-Senior G. Taylor
author_facet	C. H. Orr R. Williams H. H. Halldórsdóttir A. Birley E. Greene A. Nelson T. K. Ralebitso-Senior G. Taylor
author_sort	C. H. Orr
title	Unique chemical parameters and microbial activity lead to increased archaeological preservation at the Roman frontier site of Vindolanda, UK
title_short	Unique chemical parameters and microbial activity lead to increased archaeological preservation at the Roman frontier site of Vindolanda, UK
title_full	Unique chemical parameters and microbial activity lead to increased archaeological preservation at the Roman frontier site of Vindolanda, UK
title_fullStr	Unique chemical parameters and microbial activity lead to increased archaeological preservation at the Roman frontier site of Vindolanda, UK
title_full_unstemmed	Unique chemical parameters and microbial activity lead to increased archaeological preservation at the Roman frontier site of Vindolanda, UK
title_sort	unique chemical parameters and microbial activity lead to increased archaeological preservation at the roman frontier site of vindolanda, uk
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/9ae9d84e91b9433b902474eb332fdd69
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Unique chemical parameters and microbial activity lead to increased archaeological preservation at the Roman frontier site of Vindolanda, UK

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