Blood

The following appeared in sci.chem:

 Article: 2999 of sci.chem
 From: ianc [at] toshiba__tic__oz__AU (Ian Cowell)
 Subject: Re: Blood
 Date: 4 Feb 91
 Lines: 32

 Back in Nov 90, there was some discussion on confirming that an old
 document was signed in blood. Sorry for the delay....

 There was an Australian TV science program Quantam (Australian
 Broadcasting Corp) that was describing tests made on blood samples many
 thousands on years old. The program was originally broadcast in 90 and
 repeated in Jan 91.

 One successful test was on a blood sample from rock tool that had been
 used by Australian Aborigines for scraping other items. It was
 confirmed that the sample was human blood. The tests used some standard
 human blood tests but the problem was to extract the sample.

 Another test on bone fragments was not so conclusive (from what I
 remember). The test I think was done at the Australian National
 University, Canberra, ACT. I cannot remember the name of the researcher
 or his department. The tests are still in the development stage.

 The archaeologists were trying to determine if three different skull
 types were related. Some of tests indicated that Australia has been
 occupied for more than 100,000 years, but the all the tests do not
 agree on the dates. Also the Australian Aborigines have successfully
 requested that the human remains be turned to them for burial as
 required by their customs.

 Ian Cowell                               ACSnet: ianc [at] toshiba__tic__oz__au
 Toshiba International Corporation Pty LtdPhone:  61-2-428-2077
 Sydney,  Australia                       Fax:    61-2-427-7405

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 4:42
                 Distributed: Tuesday, February 5, 1991
                        Message Id: cdl-4-42-003
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