Live Science reports on a first-of-its-kind archaeological discovery in the graveyard of the Mississippi State Lunatic Asylum, where a woman buried a century ago was found to have a perfectly preserved “porcelain gallbladder” as the result of a medical condition:
In a study published March 30 in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, researchers detailed the rare discovery of a gallbladder that had been preserved for a century. While organs normally decay completely over time after a person’s death, in this case, the gallbladder had calcified, a process in which calcium builds up in the muscular wall of the organ, causing it to harden.
The preserved organ, often called a porcelain gallbladder in the medical literature, was associated with the skeleton of a middle-aged woman who was buried in the asylum’s cemetery. Founded in 1855 and closed in 1935, the asylum treated tens of thousands of patients, around 7,000 of whom died while in residence and were buried in simple pine boxes with wooden markers.
The cemetery was rediscovered in 2012 during development of the land, which is now on the grounds of the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
…
Measuring 1.8 inches (46 millimeters) long and 1.1 inches (28.5 mm) wide, the object in the burial weighed just over half an ounce (16.1 grams). It was identified as a porcelain gallbladder through X-rays and micro-CT scans carried out at UMMC because, underneath the irregular surface of the calcified rim, the research team found a single large gallstone.
“It’s funny that the object was initially an exciting mystery for the bioarchaeologists,” [UMMC bioarchaeologist Jennifer] Mack said, “whereas it was identified almost at a glance by the retired surgeon on our project.”