Objective

Provide a frame of reference for the recognition and interpretation of bezoars recovered from archeological and paleontological sites.

Materials

49 bezoars from extant guanaco (Lama guanicoe) were analyzed and compared with five objects previously identified as bezoars, recovered from Holocene archeological sites of the Argentine Pampas.

Methods

Size, shape, weight, external and internal features, and mineralogical composition were evaluated in both modern and archeological bezoars using nondestructive and destructive methods.

Results

Modern and archeological bezoars are formed by calcium phosphate and display great morphological variability linked to ante-mortem processes, taphonomic alterations, and anthropic activity.

Conclusions

Morphometry, along with external and internal features and mineral composition, are useful tools for the identification and interpretation of bezoars in the fossil record.

Significance

This study offers new information on the etiology, mechanisms of formation, and means of interpreting the presence of bezoars, a common pathology in South American camelids, in the fossil record.

Limitations

The features of fossil bezoars do not provide accurate identification of the animal that produced them.

Suggestions for Further Research

Further analyses on modern bezoars belonging to other species of mammals are needed in order to enhance the interpretation of bezoars in the fossil record.

中文翻译：

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现代骆马（骆驼科，骆驼科）牛黄：化石记录中鉴定的一种方法。

目的

为识别和解释从考古和古生物学遗址中发现的牛黄提供参考框架。

用料

分析并分析了现存的骆驼科（Lama guanicoe）的49个牛黄，并与从阿根廷潘帕斯州全新世考古遗址中发现的5个先前鉴定为牛黄的物体进行了比较。

方法

使用非破坏性和破坏性方法对现代和考古牛黄中的大小，形状，重量，外部和内部特征以及矿物组成进行了评估。

结果

现代的和考古的牛黄是由磷酸钙形成的，并表现出与宰前过程，染色体变异和人类活动有关的巨大形态变异性。

结论

形态分析以及外部和内部特征以及矿物成分，是识别和解释化石记录中牛黄的有用工具。

意义

这项研究为化石记录中的南美骆驼科动物常见的病原体牛黄的病因，形成机理和解释手段提供了新的信息。

局限性

化石牛黄的特征不能提供产生它们的动物的准确识别。

进一步研究的建议

为了加强对化石记录中牛黄的解释，需要对属于哺乳动物其他物种的现代牛黄进行进一步分析。