| Summary: | A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the
degree of Master of Science. === The ‘Makapan Mummy’ (A1081), the Makapan Child and human and animal remains
with desiccated tissue attached indicate that the environment inside Historic Cave
was dry enough to cause mummification. Environmental studies conducted in 1992
and 2011 suggest that dry air in the well-ventilated cave preserved the soft tissue and
mummified the corpse. The aim of this study is to examine desiccated tissue sampled
from the ‘Makapan Mummy’ (A1081) and from the human remains excavated at
Historic Cave using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive
spectroscopy (EDS) and light microscopy. The morphological features of the
naturally desiccated tissue from Historic Cave were recorded and described using the
microscopic analyses and were then compared to normal and mummified human
tissue. Mummified tissue is hard and dry and often embedded with dust and debris. In
its hard and dry state, mummified tissue needs to be prepared differently to normal
human tissue. In this study, various methods used to clean, rehydrate and stain the
desiccated tissue were investigated and compared. Through this comparative analysis
it was possible to determine the most suitable method for examining desiccated tissue
from Historic Cave. In the SEM analysis, epidermal keratinocytes and vellus hairs
were observed on the surface of the skin tissue. Histological analyses demonstrated
the exclusive preservation of collagen fibres in the muscle tissue, the connective
tissue and the skin tissue. This suggests that the collagen fibres play an integral part
in preserving the structure of desiccated tissue that is devoid of cellular elements. The
results are consistent with the histology of desiccated tissue remains from the
Republic of Korea, Egypt and the Americas.
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