Author(s)

Claudio Milanesi^1*, Rita Vignani¹, Monica Scali¹, Claudia Faleri¹, Mauro Cresti², Matteo Delle Donne^3,4, Alessandro Canci⁵, Martina Friziero⁶, Alessandro Sebastiani^3,4, Seyed Mansour Seyed Sajjadi⁷

¹Department of Life Science, University of Siena, Siena, Italy.
²Fisiocritici Academy, Natural History Museum, Siena, Italy.
³Istitute for European and Meditteranean Archaeology, 380 Academic Center, Buffalo, USA.
⁴African and Mediterranean Studies, Department of Asian, University of Naples “L’Orientale”, Naples, Italy.
⁵Department of Humanities and Cultural Heritage (DIUM), University of Udine, Udine, Italy.
⁶Postgraduate School of Archaeological School of the Universities of Trieste, Udine and Venice Cà Foscari (SISBA), Venice, Italy.
⁷Iran Center for Archaeological Research (ICAR), Teheran, Iran.

The archaeological site of Shahr-i Sokhta, in the Sistan region of south-eastern Iran, is noted for the exceptional preservation of human remains documented in its necropolis. This report describes the results of a non-destructive multidisciplinary investigation into a double burial excavated at Shahr-i Sokhta, preserving two skeletons of subadults. The first part of this study provides an archaeotanatological and bioarchaeological description of the burial. Next, we detail the results of the biotechnological techniques applied to bone fragments pertaining to the femurs of the buried children. Following a non-destructive process for studying these samples, we employ a micromolecular technique based on morphological observation using optical, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. This molecular analysis of the bone fragments proves the presence of organic compounds such as tubulin. Through these investigations, we demonstrate that it is possible, utilizing only a few grams of sample, to obtain useful details for scientific research based on non-destructive interdisciplinary investigations.

Bioarchaeology, Microanalysis, Human Tubulin, Non-Destructive Analysis, Osteocyte

Milanesi, C. , Vignani, R. , Scali, M. , Faleri, C. , Cresti, M. , Donne, M. , Canci, A. , Friziero, M. , Sebastiani, A. and Sajjadi, S. (2023) A Double Burial from Shahr-I Sokhta Necropolis (Iran). Bioarcheological Investigations and Non-Invasive Biotechnological Studies on Fragments of Human Remains. Archaeological Discovery, 11, 1-15. doi: 10.4236/ad.2023.111001.