Stains on bone

Jane Hoff <janehoff56 [at] hotmail__com> writes

>I am a Forensic Anthropologist and I work with the Office of the
>Medical Examiner in Salt Lake City, Utah. In two recent cases I have
>worked on, human bones have been discovered with stains ranging from
>neon-pink to red. I have been doing this work for more than twenty
>years (although not in Utah) and I have never seen this before.

The most likely source of this type of discoloration is amino acid
color change.  The small amount of amino acids could possibly,
because of burial environments under go a color change.  This type
of color has been reported on ivory and mammoth tusks and could well
occur in bone.

Mary-Lou Florian


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 15:35
                 Distributed: Monday, October 29, 2001
                       Message Id: cdl-15-35-006
                                  ***