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      Discovering Hominins - Application of Medical Computed Tomography (CT) to Fossil-Bearing Rocks from the Site of Malapa, South Africa

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      PLoS ONE
      Public Library of Science

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          Abstract

          In the South African context, computed tomography (CT) has been used applied to individually prepared fossils and small rocks containing fossils, but has not been utilized on large breccia blocks as a means of discovering fossils, and particularly fossil hominins. Previous attempts at CT imaging of rocks from other South African sites for this purpose yielded disappointing results. For this study, 109 fossil- bearing rocks from the site of Malapa, South Africa were scanned with medical CT prior to manual preparation. The resultant images were assessed for accuracy of fossil identification and characterization against the standard of manual preparation. The accurate identification of fossils, including those of early hominins, that were not visible on the surface of individual blocks, is shown to be possible. The discovery of unexpected fossils is reduced, thus lowering the potential that fossils could be damaged through accidental encounter during routine preparation, or even entirely missed. This study should significantly change the way fossil discovery, recovery and preparation is done in the South African context and has potential for application in other palaeontological situations. Medical CT imaging is shown to be reliable, readily available, cost effective and accurate in finding fossils within matrix conglomerates. Improvements in CT equipment and in CT image quality are such that medical CT is now a viable imaging modality for this palaeontological application.

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          Most cited references25

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          Computerized transverse axial scanning (tomography). 1. Description of system.

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            Artifacts in CT: recognition and avoidance.

            Artifacts can seriously degrade the quality of computed tomographic (CT) images, sometimes to the point of making them diagnostically unusable. To optimize image quality, it is necessary to understand why artifacts occur and how they can be prevented or suppressed. CT artifacts originate from a range of sources. Physics-based artifacts result from the physical processes involved in the acquisition of CT data. Patient-based artifacts are caused by such factors as patient movement or the presence of metallic materials in or on the patient. Scanner-based artifacts result from imperfections in scanner function. Helical and multisection technique artifacts are produced by the image reconstruction process. Design features incorporated into modern CT scanners minimize some types of artifacts, and some can be partially corrected by the scanner software. However, in many instances, careful patient positioning and optimum selection of scanning parameters are the most important factors in avoiding CT artifacts. (c) RSNA, 2004.
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              A virtual world of paleontology.

              Computer-aided visualization and analysis of fossils has revolutionized the study of extinct organisms. Novel techniques allow fossils to be characterized in three dimensions and in unprecedented detail. This has enabled paleontologists to gain important insights into their anatomy, development, and preservation. New protocols allow more objective reconstructions of fossil organisms, including soft tissues, from incomplete remains. The resulting digital reconstructions can be used in functional analyses, rigorously testing long-standing hypotheses regarding the paleobiology of extinct organisms. These approaches are transforming our understanding of long-studied fossil groups, and of the narratives of organismal and ecological evolution that have been built upon them.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Role: Editor
                Journal
                PLoS One
                PLoS ONE
                plos
                plosone
                PLoS ONE
                Public Library of Science (San Francisco, CA USA )
                1932-6203
                18 December 2015
                2015
                : 10
                : 12
                : e0145340
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, Johannesburg, South Africa
                [2 ]Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
                [3 ]Department of Science and Technology/National Research Foundation Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
                University of Oxford, UNITED KINGDOM
                Author notes

                Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

                Conceived and designed the experiments: LRB JSS. Performed the experiments: JSS. Analyzed the data: JSS. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: JSS LRB. Wrote the paper: JSS LRB.

                Article
                PONE-D-15-42811
                10.1371/journal.pone.0145340
                4684202
                26684299
                7ca72d55-66ee-413e-b716-396097ededb7
                © 2015 Smilg, Berger

                This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

                History
                : 30 September 2015
                : 2 December 2015
                Page count
                Figures: 4, Tables: 3, Pages: 19
                Funding
                The authors have no support or funding to report.
                Categories
                Research Article
                Custom metadata
                All relevant data are within the paper.

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