Chapter 15 Flashcards
Burial context
The circumstances surrounding the formation of a burial assemblage, an understanding of which can help inform our understanding and interpretation of the burial.
Bioarchaeology
Bioarchaeology is the study of human remains excavated from archaeological sites
The example of the skeletons found in Antigua after Hurricane Earl is designed to help you understand what kinds of information can be discovered from human remains. Below, list what archeologists can learn from human remains.
bioarchaeologists obtain information about each individual skeleton, which can include age, sex, height, ancestry, disease, diet, and behavio
What evidence does Dr. Brown use to determine that the figure he and his team found probably received a hammock burial?
In other instances, no wood or nails were found but, instead, the bodies were positioned with their arms and legs tucked in close to the torso, with their hands positioned tightly together in the area of the pelvis. This was likely indicative of a hammock burial. A hammock burial would have served as a relatively easy way to inter a sailor who died in his hammock on board the ship
Why was it difficult for Dr. Brown to determine when the skeleton was buried?
There are no artifacts to help determine when the skeleton was buried
The reporter makes the comment that the site is complex. Why does he say this?
Because one artifact can be related to another skeleton and vice versa
What are the major differences between forensic anthropology and bioarchaeology?
forensic anthropology researchers specifically conduct their analysis on recently deceased individuals typically within the last 50 years) and within the context of the law—in other words, as part of a criminal investigation.
Bioarchaeologists glean information about each set of human remains by examining the skeleton and by considering the archaeological context in which the skeleton was recovered.
Forensic Anthropology is the field of study that uses the analysis of human skeletal remains to extract as much information as possible with the goal of identifying the circumstances surrounding the death of the individual(s) being analyzed. Bioarchaeology is the field that seeks to provide information about human life or the environment in the past by studying bones and other biological materials found in archaeological remains.
Describe the basic job of a forensic anthropologist.
Many times, because of their expertise in identifying human skeletal remains, forensic anthropologists are called to help with outdoor search-and-recovery efforts, such as locating remains scattered across the surface or carefully excavating and documenting buried remains. In other cases, forensic anthropologists recover remains after natural disasters or accidents, such as fire scenes, and can help identify whether each bone belongs to a human or an animal. Forensic anthropology spans a wide scope of contexts involving the law, including incidences of mass disasters, genocide, and war crimes.
Who might forensic anthropologists work with? What kinds of places might they go to do their work?
What kinds of things don’t forensic anthropologists do?
Almost exclusively, forensic anthropology deals with skeletal analysis. While this can include the comparison of antemortem before death) and postmortem after death) radiographs to identify whether remains belong to a specific person, or using photographic super imposition of the cranium, it does not include analyses beyond the skeleton. For example, blood spatter analysis, DNA analysis, fingerprints, and material evidence collection do not fall under the scope of forensic anthropology.
What information can be obtained from bones?
Forensic anthropologists can address a number of questions about a human individual based on their skeletal remains. Some of those questions include: How old was the person? Was the person biologically male or female? How tall was the person? What happened to the person at or around their time of death? Were they sick? The information from the skeletal analysis can then be matched with missing persons records, medical records, or dental records, aiding law enforcement agencies with identifications and investigations.
What are some major questions bioarchaeologists and forensic anthropologists want to answer about bones?
- Is it bone?
- Is it human?
- Is it modern or archeological?
- How many individuals are present or what is the minimum number of individuals MNI)?
- Who is it?
- Is there evidence of trauma before or around the time of death?
- What happened to the remains after death?
Compact (cortical) bone
The outer layer of bone, made up of densely arranged osseous bone) tissue.
Spongy (trabecular) bone
The inner layer of bone comprised of loosely organized porous bone tissue whose appearance
resembles that of a sponge.
Osteons
bone cells
How can forensic anthropologists or bioarchaeologists determine if something is bone as opposed to some other material?
As demonstrated by the example above, both the macrostructure visible
with the naked eye) and microstructure visible with a microscope) of bone are helpful in bone identification.
How is the skull different from other bones?
The compact cortical) bone
layers sandwich the spongy trabecular) bone. One layer of compact bone forms the very outer surface of the skull and
the other lines the internal surface of the skull.
What structures do scientists look for under the microscope to determine if something is bone?
The microscopic identification of bone relies on knowledge of osteons (bone cells) looks like sponge
Epiphyses
Ends of the bone, where growth occurs.
What is the first step a scientist might take to determine if a whole bone is human?
The morphology the shape/form) of
human bone is a good place for students to start. Identifying the 206 bones in the adult human skeleton and each bone’s distinguishing features
Why might a visual inspection of a bone not be enough to conclude that a bone is human?
Because fragments can look very similar to each other
What differences are there between animal and human bones?
Human cranial bone has three distinctive layers.
In most other mammals, the distinction
between the spongy and compact layers is not always so definite.
How can scientists determine if bones belong to an adult human, a child, or an infant?
Adult human bones are larger than subadult or infant
bones. However, another major difference between human adult bones and those of a
young individual or infant human can be attributed to development and growth of the
epiphyses
Therefore, if a bone is small and it is suspected to belong to a
human subadult or infant, the epiphyses would not be fused.
Context
The “context” refers to the relationship the remains have to the immediate area in which they were found. The context
includes the specific place where the remains were found, the soil or other organic matter immediately surrounding the
remains, and any other objects or artifacts in close proximity to the body.
Give some examples of how context can help a scientist determine if remains or modern or older?
Observing information from the surroundings
can help determine whether the remains are archaeological or modern.
Burial assemblage
A set of human remains and associated artifacts associated with a single burial context.
What are the three ways to determine how many people are in a burial assemblage?
the Minimum Number of Individuals MNI), the Most Likely Number of Individuals MLNI), and the Lincoln Index LI).
What is the basic process for determining the minimum number of individuals?
“the minimum estimate for the number of individuals that contributed to the sample”
Traditional methods of calculating MNI include separating a skeletal assemblage into categories according to the individual bone and the side the bone comes from and then taking the highest count per category and assigning that as the minimum number
How are animal bones handled if they are found in a burial assemblage?
If an assemblage contains both human and faunal animal) elements, the assemblage should be divided
into two separate groups.
Commingled burials
Burial assemblages in which individual skeletons are not separated into discrete burials.
When and why is it important to determine MNI?
Determination of MNI is most applicable in cases of mass graves or commingled burials
bioarchaeological and forensic contexts
Biological profile
is an individual’s identifying characteristics, or biological information, which include the following: sex, age,
stature, ancestry, skeletal variation, trauma, and pathology.
Both forensic anthropologists and bioarchaeologists want a biological profile on remains that they find, but their goals are different. Explain.
Forensic anthropologists typically construct a biological profile to help positively identify a deceased
person.
In some cases, bioarchaeologists match information about a known individual in the past to remains found
in an archaeological context, but they generally construct a biological profile to learn more about people’s everyday
lives.
What questions from the chapter section “Initial Skeletal Analysis” did bioarchaeologists answer about King Richard III?
Using the information from the “Is It Modern or Archaeological?” section, explain how they use context to determine this skeleton was archaeological.
Using the information in the “Who Is It?” section, discuss the tools they use to conclude that this skeleton is likely King Richard III’s remains.
Robusticity
strength and size; it is frequently used as a term to describe a large size or thickness.
Why is it important to estimate the sex of the remains first?
Estimation of sex is often one of the first things considered when establishing a biological profile because several other parts, such as age and stature estimations, rely on an estimation of sex to make the calculations more accurate.
