On sacred ground: social identity and churchyard burial in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, C. 700-1100 AD

Ye

Missing, Presumed Buried? Bone Diagenesis and the Under-Representation of Anglo-Saxon Children

YesSam Lucy (1994: 26) has stated that a `recognised feature of pre-Christian early medieval cemeteries in eastern England is the smaller number of younger burials recovered¿. Although taphonomic factors such as the increased rate of decay of the remains of children and shallow depth of burial have been suggested as possible explanations for this phenomenon, these have been disregarded in favour of cultural influences, with younger children thought to have been disposed of in a different way from adult remains (Lucy, 1994; Härke, 1997; Crawford, 1999). This paper will review the evidence concerning the treatment of the remains of children during the Anglo-Saxon period. It will then review the factors affecting bone preservation, with special reference to the bones of children, and attempt to assess to what extent the under-representation of children in Anglo-Saxon cemeteries can be attributed to bone preservation and soil type. It will show that hypotheses should not be formulated without full consideration of the taphonomy that may affect the completeness of the archaeological record

Radiography in Palaeopathology: Where Next?

YesRadiography has frequently been used during palaeopathological research, and plays an important role in the differential diagnosis of many diseases, including Paget¿s disease and carcinomas. Traditionally, radiographs were taken in hospitals with clinical equipment. However industrial radiography techniques have gradually become more commonly used, as their superior image quality and improved potential for diagnoses become recognised. The introduction of radiographic scanners has facilitated the digitisation of these images for dissemination and publication. However this is not all that radiographic digitisation can offer the researcher. Digital image processing (DIP) allows the researcher to focus on an area of interest and to adjust the brightness and contrast of the captured image. This allows the investigation of areas of high radio-opacity and radio-lucency, providing detailed images of the internal structures of bone and pathological lesions undetectable by the naked eye. In addition 3D effects, edge enhancement and sharpening algorithms, available through commonly used image processing software, can be very effective in enhancing the visibility of specific features. This paper will reveal how radiographic digitisation and manipulation can enhance radiographic images of palaeopathological lesions and potentially further our understanding of the bony manifestations of disease

Death embodied. Archaeological approaches to the treatment of the corpse edited by Zoë L Devlin and Emma-Jayne Graham [Book review]

Ye

The (mis)use of adult age estimates in osteology.

yesContext: Adult age-at-death is presented in a number of different ways by anthropologists. Ordinal categories predominate in osteoarchaeology, but do not reflect individual variation in ageing, with too many adults being classified as ‘middle adults’. In addition, mean ages (derived from reference samples) are overly-relied upon when developing and testing methods. In both cases, ‘age mimicry’ is not adequately accounted for. Objectives: To highlight the many inherent biases created when developing, testing and applying age-estimation methods without fully considering the impact of ‘age mimicry’ and individual variation. Methods: The paper draws on previously published research (Web of Science, Pub Med, Google Scholar) on age estimation methods and their use in anthropology. Results and Conclusions: There is a lack of consistency in the methods used to estimate age, and for the mode of combining them. Ordinal categories are frequently used in osteoarchaeology, whereas forensic anthropologists are more likely to produce case-specific age ranges. Mean ages reflect the age structure of reference samples, and should not be used to estimate age for individuals from populations with a different age-at-death structure. Individual-specific age ranges and/or probability densities should be used to report individual age. Further research should be undertaken on how to create unbiased, combined method age estimates

UA1B2/1/4 Oral History

Interview conducted by Paula Trafton with Ray Buckberry, WKU alum

Death and the Body: Using Osteological Methods to Investigate the Later Prehistoric Funerary Archaeology of Slovenia and Croatia

Ye

Exploring Age – Transition Analysis as a Tool for Detecting the Elderly

The growth of gender archaeology has improved the inclusion of female and juvenile narratives in archaeological discourse, enabling us to better understand interactions between groups defined by both social and physiological differences. There has been a notable absence of elderly in research, however, that is not simply a question of attitudes but of methodological limitations. The emergence of biostatistics has offered novel ways to combat common issues such as age mimicry and avoid the problematic nature of culturally loaded descriptive terminology. A test performed on Transition Analysis by Boldsen et al. (2002), generates individual age estimates, which allow for better differentiation between individuals and age groups, such as the ‘45+ older adults’. Further research into biostatistical methods will not only improve objectivity but bring much needed attention to the elderly, including their narrative into the investigation of family dynamics and adult-juvenile interactions

The use of corsetry to treat Pott’s disease of the spine from 19th century Wolverhampton, England

Corsets have been used both to create a fashionable silhouette and as an orthopaedic treatment for spinal conditions, but skeletal changes associated with the use of corsetry are rarely reported on in the palaeopathological literature. Here, we report on a 19th-century adult male with Pott’s disease of the vertebral column and related vertebral compression deformities. Wolverhampton HB40 presented destruction of the vertebral bodies of T6 to L4, ankylosis of the apophyseal joints of L1 and L2 and an angular kyphosis of the lumbar region, the result of tuberculosis. The presence of flattened spinous processes and bilateral acute angulation of multiple ribs in the lower thoracic region is indicative of plastic deformation caused by the use of the corset. The presence of both of these changes in an adult male, at a time when the use of cosmetic corsets by men was in decline, suggests that the compression trauma was the result of an orthopaedic corset used to correct the defective posture resulting from tubercular kyphosis, although corset use to obtain a fashionable silhouette cannot be ruled out