Medieval Bone Bioerosion and Microbiome Data from Norway

A large set of human bone samples from medieval cemeteries in south-western Norway links microscopic preservation analysis with metagenomic results. Detailed microscopic analyses show diverse levels of preservation, and the extent of bioerosion is correlated with microbiome composition and environmental factors. The dataset was authored by Damla Kaptan and is available under a CC-BY-4.0 license.

Use Cases

• Correlating bone preservation state with microbiome composition based on combined histotaphonomic and metagenomic data.
• Investigating the role of environmental factors like burial location (e.g., church floors vs. outdoor cemeteries) on bone degradation.
• Identifying potential microbial taxa involved in bioerosion, such as the genus Streptomyces, based on prevalence data.
• Studying the distribution and detection of fungal taxa in degraded bone samples using metagenomic sequencing.

Strengths

• Combines two analytical methods: detailed microscopic histotaphonomy and metagenomic sequencing.
• Based on a large set of human bone samples from a specific geographic and temporal context (medieval south-western Norway).
• Correlates bioerosion extent with environmental factors, providing contextual data.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The dataset is very small at 5.5 KB, indicating limited scope.

Provenance

Source

figshare

Collection Method

Microscopic analysis and metagenomic sequencing of archaeological bone samples.

Time Range

Medieval period

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-27 17:40:13; freshness should be verified.

Geography

South-western Norway